![]() The purpose of this course reflection is to help me summarize my knowledge and skills, demonstrate that I met ISTE standards for teachers, and to help the professor improve her teaching methodologies. This course has certainly been a learning experience for me, even difficult at times. It is hard for me to say how much of what I've learned I'll actually use in the classroom--only time will tell. I have learned a lot at quite a rapid pace. Those who are already real classroom teachers have a leg up because they may have already been using these websites and tools in their rooms. But for those of us who aren't real teachers yet, it was a challenge. I enjoyed working with my group members. We helped each other get tasks done in a timely manner. Included in this Blogfolio you will find links to both group and individual projects such as screen capture videos, interactive videos, ThingLink site, an art rubric, a quiz, 21st century classroom proposal, discussion questions, our group's website, and much more. If I name everything included, you won't go explore the site, so that's all I can think of off the top of my head. I hope you'll be pleasantly surprised. According to the assignment directions, it has been suggested that I follow the ISTE standards as a guideline to this reflection. Here are the ISTE Standards: 1. Educators continually improve their practice by learning from and with others and exploring proven and promising practices that leverage technology to improve student learning. For this course, the professor divided the class up about 4 people to a group. Throughout the summer, we worked on group projects together and collaborated professionally with the use of technology. Our group used text messaging, Zoom, email, and Google Drive to meet and share our findings so that we could put together our projects. We stayed in constant contact through texts. I certainly learned from my group mates about technology. If I had a question, I would text them and would usually get a response that day. When it came to group projects, we divided and conquered. We each took a section of the assignment and worked on it ourselves and then brought it back to the group to put together. One example is the 21st century classroom proposal. I was in charge of creating the floorplan (classroom layout). I am the artsy one of the group so I always try to pick the most artsy thing to work on because that is where my skills lie. I liked making a few floorplan layouts. As every educator knows, CEU's are there to help us keep up our license. So as far as continually keeping up the practice, I would attend as many professional developments as I could to stay up to date with the latest technology available to teachers; and also because I'm usually the last person to find out news, so this would put me ahead. 2. Educators seek out opportunities for leadership to support student empowerment and success and to improve teaching and learning. 2a: Shape, advance, and accelerate a shared vision for empowered learning with technology by engaging with education stakeholders. If teachers want the best for their students, they will do what it takes to get the best for their students. This could include drafting a proposal for stakeholders in the community to fund a classroom. The proposal goes beyond EEF cards for teachers; it is basically a complete makeover of the classroom. Because the world is so technologically advanced, classrooms should be at the same level to improve student learning. Flexible seating is becoming more common in schools. Teachers want to make their students as comfortable as they can so they will pay attention and have more motivation for their education. Providing every student with their own laptop is another way to increase motivation in students. Our group drafted a 21st Century Classroom proposal complete with a letter to the stakeholders, classroom floorplan examples, a budget, and classroom inventory. If the opportunity ever came up, we now know how to professionally ask for money for our classrooms. This will be a valuable asset in the future. 3. Educators inspire students to positively contribute to and responsibly participate in the digital world. 3b: Establish a learning culture that promotes curiosity and critical examination of online resources and fosters digital literacy and media fluency. ThingLink comes to mind when answering this question. ThingLink is an online tool for teachers to engage student learning. A teacher can upload a photo of the United States, for example, and add a tag(link) in each state for a student to click on and learn more about that state. This particular idea sounds fun to me even though I had a difficult time learning about ThingLink when we completed our group project using its site. You cannot just upload a photo to ThingLink; you have to already have it downloaded on your computer first. It would make things easier if the program would simply let you copy and paste things rather than have to use up your personal computer storage for a simple picture. Also, I feel like I didn't have enough time to really learn the program before we had to submit a project using it; that is another reason I don't like it. Padlet is another interactive resource for students. I may have misunderstood this assignment--I really don't even know. I understood the directions for Padlet to be solely a group project, but as it turns out, I think we each had to make our own in addition to the group's Padlet. Therefore, I did not complete that assignment. This is really where the directions for the assignment got really confusing; there were too many mini projects inside the bigger project and everything got lost in translation. I wish the directions were clearer on that; I could have a better grade if so. 4. Educators dedicate time to collaborate with both colleagues and students to improve practice, discover and share resources and ideas, and to solve problems. 4a: Dedicate planning time to collaborate with colleagues to create authentic learning experiences that leverage technology. Google's programs are shareable among colleagues. I am not as fluent in Google as others, but it is certainly more familiar to me than other programs I've learned about and used so far in this course. Google allows teachers to share and edit pages to fit their students' needs. When Covid hit, Google Docs probably became the most useful tool for teachers since they had to work from home. The best part about the Google programs is that you can access it from any computer! It is saved online until you share the link. Our group used Google Docs to collaborate on our projects. This process is so great because our schedules were so different that we could check Google on our own time. I plan to continue using Google and learning all I can about it. Google also has a Classroom feature for students to access. Again, because of Covid, teachers used the Google programs to communicate with students, upload assignments and quizzes, and leave lesson plans for students to go over. 5. Educators design authentic, learner-driven activities and environments that recognize and accommodate learner variability. 5c: Explore and apply instructional design principles to create innovative digital learning environments that engage and support learning. Everyone learns differently. Some are auditory learners, some visual, some kinesthetic, and so on. The internet is a great tool to bring together all types of learning styles. Even though I had a rough experience with ThingLink, it would be a great tool to use for students because you can upload pictures, audio files, video files, articles, etc for your diverse learners. However, I don't see how it could help the kinesthetic learners. 6. Educators facilitate learning with technology to support student achievement of the ISTE standards for students. Educators: 6a: Foster a culture where students take ownership of their learning goals and outcomes in both independent and group settings. Putting students in groups for projects helps foster their learning goals and strengthens their independence. Throughout this summer course, some of our assignments were group projects while the rest were individual. The group projects told me that I'm not in this alone. I had others to guide me through something I may have had trouble with--we helped each other out. And when I successfully completed my part of the group work, I felt more confident in the individual assignments. If I were to ever use this method in my future classroom, I would hope the students would help each other out as well. I may have to group them myself so they can learn more about each other. For this summer ITD class, I think it would have been more profitable to group us according to our areas of study. Don't misunderstand me, I liked my group members and learned a lot from them, but we chose history as our group subject and while we've all taken history courses, it was only one person's speciality. Therefore, that person had to make the lesson plan and become the group leader and I think she did more work than the rest of us because that was her subject area. If we had been grouped by our subjects, members could have taken on a little more work than one person doing it. Now, I'm the odd student because art is my subject area and I really doubt if there was another art student in this ITD class. I would have been thrown into any group and had to deal with what I got. But that is not always a bad thing. When it came to designing the classroom floorplan, I took charge of it because it was the most artsy thing available. I was happy to do it. The floorplan was my silver lining and you have no idea how proud I am of how it turned out! I'm happy about it because I figured it out on my own--the person who is not a tech guru--ME! 7. Educators understand and use data to drive their instruction and support students in achieving their learning goals. Educators: 7b: Use technology to design and implement a variety of formative and summative assessments that accommodate learner needs, provide timely feedback, to students and inform instruction. Technology can certainly be a time-saver. With the use of online quizzes and tests, assessments can be made almost immediately. If the assessments are multiple choice, the grades for those tests are instantly shown after the student has finished. Grades can be charted and graphed so the teacher can keep track of what students are grasping and what they are having trouble with. As an elementary art teacher, I'm not sure yet how this could benefit me. My assessments will be portfolio assessments because elementary art requires physical materials, not digital ones. Future Learning Goals: One future learning goal is to learn more internet programs. I would like to try ThingLink again but take more time navigating the site and exploring all of the possibilities. I felt rushed into the project using ThingLink and I would be apt to trying again at my own pace. I could post a virtual tour of an art museum and add tags to the paintings and artwork. I would also like to find interactive art videos and/or sites to use in the future. I would like to introduce students to animation or graphic design so I'd like to find a program they can use (somewhere between the Paint program and Photoshop). Another goal of mine is to learn how the Google programs work and what all I can do with them. Right now I just use the basics of email, Drive, Docs, & Slides. I do have a Google classroom set up but have never used it; my former principal asked all teachers, even specials teachers, to create a Google classroom just in case (right after Covid hit). I will never be a tech genius, but I want to know what all the possibilities are with these programs. Do they have cool features that I don't know about? Probably so.
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![]() Ch. 9, #2: There is a fine line between students' rights to express themselves(freedom of speech) and the requirement that educators must protect all students from inappropriate commentary and invasion of privacy. How will you handle balancing your student's right to express and the requirement that they behave as good digital citizens when using technology in school? Give examples. According to our textbook, Teaching and Learning with Technology (p. 281), school districts have an acceptable use policy (AUP) which details "what is and is not acceptable for students interacting with each other via computer and articulates the appropriate use of the technology itself. Teachers need to be aware of these policies, align their classroom practices with them, and ultimately enforce them in their respective classrooms." I plan to do just that. If I ever get the chance to have computers or iPads in my art classroom, I will have the school district only allow certain websites/games for students to access and will monitor closely. At my last school, the principal's husband worked at the tech lab and he told us that they could see everything we do online and they could block websites like Youtube and Pinterest from teachers. So if they can do that to teachers, they can do it to students. This decreases the chances of students using "free speech" to hurt or blackmail others. In addition to this, I may mention to students not to put things online that their mom or grandmother would see (some parents and grandparents may not care, but still). The internet is written in ink so students need to be careful what they post because it could catch up to them later in life. They could potentially jeopardize their future career because of internet rants. I hope I answered this question adequately. Lever-Duffy, J., & McDonald, J. B. (2019). Teaching and learning with technology. Pearson. Ch. 10, #2: This chapter suggests your role is to become a technology advocate and change agent within the education profession. Do you agree that this is indeed a responsibility of 21st century educators? Why or why not? I agree even though I may not like it. I have a love/hate relationship with technology. I'm not a huge fan of change, but the world is so technologically proficient, that even teachers need to stay caught up. This class is hard enough for me to get through that I'll consider it progress if I actually use any of these programs we've learned about. Chances are, in the real world, each school will have a single website for all teachers to use rather than each teacher using anything they want; at least in the elementary realm, I believe it so. However, we can't all be technology geniuses. Some of us need more help than others. At the school I just left, I was just an assistant but I helped my teacher by proofreading many of her emails and helping her with basic computer skills (she's older). We had another teacher who was the "go to" person if any of us had computer problems. If she was unavailable, we had to call the tech guys at the county office. If the school I work at wants me. to use certain websites to communicate with parents, for student enrichment, resources, teacher-to-teacher collaboration, etc, I will gladly attend professional developments or watch how-to videos on YouTube until my ears fall off to understand how they want me to incorporate technology into my classroom. Above I mentioned that I'm not a huge fan of change. But at the same time, I'm up for learning new things. I know that sounds totally contradictory, but in my head it makes sense. I think I'm trying to convey that a slow, gradual, at-my-own-pace kind of change is fine for me rather than a drastic one. Hope that makes sense! ![]() This week, our group worked together to build a class website through Weebly for our subject area of History. The unit we have been working on is about the U.S. Constitution. I was in charge of the Home page. We were to include all of our projects in this website. I enjoyed working with my group and am proud of how the site turned out. I have learned a lot being an artist. In high school, I was on the yearbook team one year so I know how to do layouts. I feel that our website is not too busy but not too boring. What I have learned from Dr. Howell's Classroom Management course is that too many things on the walls of a room can be overwhelming to some students. Even certain colors can upset learners with disabilities. I think the same could be said for websites. If you have too much to look at, the students get confused or distracted and end up on an entirely different site. I think our site looks just fine as it is. Especially for some of us who just aren't technologically proficient. We're still learning though! Below is a link to our project site! I enjoyed working on this project since Weebly has become familiar to me. If I had to make a classroom website, I may just use Weebly because I have learned how to use it over the course of the summer and have found it easier and easier as I do so. Dragging and dropping an item is pretty simple. ![]() Project 9: Interactive Padlet & ThingLink This project was very confusing for many of us. I feel the instructions just weren't written clearly. I don't understand what/how Padlet works so I don't plan on ever using it in my classroom. I am NOT impressed with ThingLink. It won't just simply let you copy and paste websites. It wants me to upload everything from my own computer and that is stupid. Why can't I just share other links I find?? Who has time for this? NOT ME. The "tutorials" on Thinklink website aren't even tutorials. They are just videos saying WHAT you can do, not HOW to do it. The help center doesn't help either. I hate it. I never plan on using this website ever again. Project 10: Rubric & Quiz For the Rubric, I used Rubistar to create a simple art rubric I would use in my classroom for portfolio assessment, should I need it. For the quiz, I used the program Quizizz and created a simple quiz of 10 questions on the Principles of Design. Kahoot is another interactive quiz teachers can use. This was my first experience using Quizizz so I don't know enough about it to really know the difference, but Kahoot is pretty fun. I suppose both Kahoot and Quizizz can both be accessed on students' phones and you can add pictures to the questions. Below is a copy of my art rubric, link to the quiz, my ThingLink, & the Padlet link that the group worked on. ![]() Ch. 8, #2: Reflecting on your experience with the following subjects: language arts, math, history, science, music, which ones do you think would be adaptable for distance education and which ones would not? Why? Would there be a difference in adaptability depending on grade level? This past year, our school offered virtual learning due to the pandemic just like many schools world-wide. General classes were available to these distance learners but specials classes such as music, art, P.E., library, A.R., computer (although virtual learning IS computer) were not. I think any class can be adapted to distance learning--even P.E. Students could find online work-out videos for P.E. On rainy days, our elementary students would stay inside and the teacher would log on to GoNoodle. GoNoodle has fun dance songs and activities for students to interact with. It also gives the teacher a break while the students are exercising. I don't think there would be a difference in adaptability depending on grade level. Even high school students could find YouTube videos or DVDs to use for P.E. LEARNING EXPERIENCES For Projects 6-8, we had to create a video, edit it, and add interactive questions. EDPuzzle is the program we used to add questions to our videos. The more I think about it, it seems like a pretty nifty tool to use for distance/virtual learning. I used Google Slides for my presentation. At first, new things like technology overwhelm me and I'm never sure I can learn them. But EDPuzzle was pretty simple. However, they must have changed their website layout from the example I saw in our class module because although it was EDPuzzle, it looked totally different than the examples. But it's ok, I got through it. Below are Projects 6-8 for your viewing pleasure. I know my video isn't the most exciting thing to watch because I get nervous in front of a camera, but not teaching kids. EdPuzzle would be a great tool to use on a regular basis especially for kids who are absent. They can go online and view the video to see what they missed and take quizzes if necessary. This way, they can stay caught up while at home. ![]() Ch. 7, #2: Many are concerned about the use of social media in school. Describe your views of the pros and cons of using social media. How will you use this tool in your classroom and what are your greatest concerns in doing so? Social media certainly has its pros and cons. Pros could consist of keeping in touch with parents, friends, administration, and the community. At the school I just left, the principal and/or certified teachers would post announcements and pictures of classes doing fun things while learning on Facebook. Only people who have liked the school's Facebook page could see the posts and no children's names were given out. I think this is a safe way for the community and parents to see what their kids do at school and how much fun they have doing it. Another app teachers use is School Status. This app keeps teachers in touch with parents without the parents having the teacher's personal phone number. If you have ever used the Remind app, I think it is much like that. Teachers can "text" the parents messages instantly. Social media has cons as well. Young kids these days have their own cell phone and while they aren't allowed at school, they still bring them. Kids could record the teacher without his/her knowledge or look at things they aren't supposed to be looking at. At the elementary level, we usually catch the kids who bring phones to school. We would turn them into the office and ask the parent to come pick it up. Students could also post some kind of blackmail against a teacher. I personally don't think elementary kids need social media accounts because there are child predators out there and they will figure out how to reach children. The only way I would use social media in my classroom is to take pictures of artwork and post them to the school's Facebook page for parents to see. That's it, plain and simple. I'm not a general classroom teacher, so I don't know yet if I'll need the School Status app or not. I'll have to talk to my principal about that. Below are links to Projects 2-5 for this week. Our group did the best we could considering not all of us are history teachers. Perhaps in the future, students could be grouped together by their subject area; that would make things a little easier. Don't misunderstand me--I like my group members! Projects can become difficult when we aren't in the same area of study. I have checked to make sure the links below work. ![]() In the beginning, this project seemed like a large one to tackle. Thankfully, our group pulled together and got it done. We met through Zoom to discuss the different parts of the project and to figure out who will do what section. A Google Drive folder was set up for each section of the project so we could edit as we went along if needed. We also stayed up to date through a text message group. I hope future projects will be downhill from here. I was in charge of the classroom design and I am very pleased with how it turned out! In our design, we had to include seats for 28 students, charging station, smart board, computer cart, flexible seating areas, teacher's podium, and printing station. We made different versions of layouts for the stakeholders to look at. We also had a budget to work with ($20,000) and we got as close as we could to that total. This was my first time using the Floorplan design website and I learned it all on my own. Our group worked together well and I look forward to seeing what else we come up with. Below is our group's Project 1. ![]() Ch. 4, #2: Multimedia encompasses multiple media combined into a single integrated whole. Considering that there are three basic learning styles: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic, what do you think are the advantages of using multimedia in a classroom presentation, or in a piece of software, rather than strictly audio or visual technologies? We teach a variety of learners so as educators, we are bound to accommodate all learning styles. Some are hard of hearing or seeing so kinesthetic would benefit them the most because they can touch it. Other students who can see and hear may just need to get a feel for an object. For example, you can teach biology all day long but until the student actually dissects an animal, he/she won't get the full learning experience. Multimedia helps to accommodate more learning styles at once. Ch.5, #2: Recall a class where presentation software, like PowerPoint, was used. Did you enjoy the experience? Was it easy to take notes? Did you stay focused on the presentation, or did your attention drift into other thoughts? Could the presentation have been modified to make it more interactive, more interesting? How? Select a grade level and subject matter that you would most want to teach. How would you use three types of academic software to teach a specific topic? Explain why you selected these three academic software packages. I have always enjoyed when teachers used PowerPoint in class because they can include pictures to bring their point across (I'm a visual learner). It was easy to take notes because the teacher used PowerPoint as an outline that was easy to jot down. The outline was just main points and the teacher would elaborate as he/she went along. Nowadays, teachers can upload the PowerPoint or email it to students if needed. If the content was interesting or if the material was definitely on an exam, I would stay focused. I could zone out in any class, presentation didn't really matter. Maybe I have a touch of ADD. Now that I know a little more about PowerPoint, I suppose the presentations could have been more interesting/interactive by adding links to other websites or something. Now that I think about it, that was the beginning of the digital age, so my teachers were learning it as they did it. They may have been learning how to incorporate technology (PowerPoint) into their lessons back then. My goal is to teach K-12 Art. I am currently waiting to hear back from a school to teach K-4 art. So, right now, that is the grade level I am aiming for. Like I said in a previous post, I don't know how much technology I will have access to as an elementary art teacher. So let's pretend I have whatever technology in my art class that I want. I definitely need creativity software, classroom management software, and active learning software. I chose these three software options because I was just drawn to them when reading about them and they seem like something I would actually use in my classroom. I am an organized person so classroom management software will come in handy when taking roll, putting in grades, communicating with the district, and keeping in touch with parents as well as creating a classroom seating chart. All in all, classroom management software will help my class run smoothly. Creativity software can help me introduce my students to the digital media arts. I could let Fridays be digital day working on iPads or tablets in the Paint program or teach students how to illustrate or create basically anything. Active learning software could be in the form of using digital white boards for lessons, or a game of some sort. If I had iPads or tablets, I could have art apps for students as well. Ch.6, #2: Learning content within the framework of a language that is not your native language can be challenging. Consider how you would respond to this challenge. What technologies would help you if you were facing learning new content in another language? Yay! I know a little bit about this subject because my current job for the past six years has been working with ELL students! It is definitely a challenge learning a new language. I had to take a language in my undergrad career (Spanish) and didn't do so well. So knowing what I know now, I would use what we use for our students: Rosetta Stone, a teacher giving one-on-one instruction, a dictionary, and apps on a tablet. We also make them read books...ALL THE TIME. I have an app on my phone called Duolingo and it is the cutest, most fun way to learn a language I have found yet. It is adult and kid friendly! When I started grad school, I didn't have as much time to use it as I had before. So, Duolingo would be my first go-to for learning a language. ![]() Ch. 1, #2: What standards do you feel are most relevant to your teaching and to your content area that will challenge you the most? What strategies will you employ to become familiar with these standards so that you can more easily address them in your classroom? As an elementary art teacher, I do not foresee much use of technology in my classroom. This past year, I didn't even have a computer in my room to show kids what the animals we were drawing looked like in real life. Now you can see the budget I had to work with. To answer the discussion question, I must say any standards having to do with technology use will be a good challenge for me. If I were ever tasked with teaching a high school digital arts class, I will certainly be challenged! I know how to use basic Power Point, Google Slides and Docs, Microsoft Word, and Pages (Mac version of Microsoft Word). Since I will be in the elementary realm, schools usually have a computer class for kids to learn how to use basic computer functions. However, if I were to teach high school at some point in my career, I would need all kinds of strategies to help ME learn to use technology and then pass my learning on to my students. My plan for such a time will be in the form of professional developments. I will take any CEU classes available to help me learn more about technology and the standards I would need to go with such technology. I could also watch YouTube videos for free in the comfort of my home! Ch. 2, #2: Using Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, describe three intelligences in which you excel and give an example of each. How could these intelligences be useful when you become a teacher? Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences include naturalist, spatial, linguistic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, logical-mathematical, musical, and bodily-kinesthetic. I feel I excel at the spatial, intrapersonal, and bodily-kinesthetic. According to www.simplypsychology.org, spatial has to do with "visualizing the world in 3D". As an artist, it is critical for me to visualize anything so I can draw it. I know how to draw 3D shapes on a flat piece of paper and it is easy to teach students. I also excel at intrapersonal qualities (what I feel and want). It is hard for me to read other people but when I know what I want, I can teach my students how to do what it is I want them to do. I hope that makes sense. The third thing I excel at is bodily-kinesthetic. When I was in high school, I played sports and participated in the school musical every year where we had to do dances to songs. I'm not sure yet how to incorporate that into art but I can show students how to draw people. Ch.3, #2: Think back on a classroom environment in which you were not as successful as you might have wanted to be. What were the factors that you encountered from the teacher and/or other students that may have hindered your learning? How will you mitigate such factors in your own classroom? It is hard for me to pinpoint an exact time, but in general, I think when a classroom had too much stuff on the walls, or even not enough stuff on the walls is when I zoned out in class. A classroom with too many posters and colors on the walls is too distracting for me; I'll be looking at the posters instead of listening to the teacher. The opposite can also be said: when there is nothing on the classroom walls, I zone out because it is too bare. That's when I start doodling on my paper or passed notes to friends. A classroom should have an equal balance of posters on a neutral-colored wall. A bright wall is way too distracting and hurts my eyes. As I have learned in CIS 603 Classroom Management, walls need to be neutral so they aren't distracting. Some students can't handle bright colors. In my classroom, I plan to have an equal balance. ![]() Hello everyone my name is Cori Everitt and I live in Rankin County with my husband and 6 month old son. For the past 6 years, I have worked at Morton Elementary teaching English to ELL Kindergarten students. I received my Bachelor Degree from Mississippi College in Studio Art and I am currently in the MAT program here at USM to get certified to teach art K-12. Making a blog is totally a new thing for me and is a bit overwhelming so please don't criticize too harshly. The only social media I use is Facebook. I used to use Instagram, but I feel that one social media account is enough; plus 3 separate email accounts is too much (school, personal, and work emails). I look forward to learning a lot from this course and hope to use what I learn in my classroom some day. |
AuthorCori Everitt CLASS BLOG ROLL
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