Blog 10

     I learned a lot from completing assignment 5. For this assignment, I created a geography trivia game similar to the game show Jeopardy. Completing this assignment taught me how to make buttons and turn off sequential slides. Now, I know how to use PowerPoint to make any interactive activity I can think of. However, I do think that the instructions were a little unclear, and because of this, I had to google how to do certain things within PowerPoint.

     I think that data collection tool will be great if you want to learn a lot about your students in a relatively large class. When it comes to college classes, numbers can get as high as the hundreds in some cases, so I think this would be great for professor. Maybe I could ask personal questions, like what kinds of pets the students have, or more academic minded questions, like their major. I may become a history teacher, so it may be great to gauge what topics students want to learn about within a given time period.

    I would really like to learn how to code. In the past, when I have tried to learn how to code, I gave up relatively quickly. Back then, I would mostly just use YouTube tutorials. However, I might consider using Coursera to gain a more in-depth understanding of technology. Not that there's anything wrong with using YouTube, it's just that the continuity of a course may make it more easy to connect concepts and ideas with a topic.

Blog 9

     I have enjoyed my experience in EME 2040. It has allowed me many opportunities to integrate technology into my skillset, and equipped me with tools I can use if I choose to become a teacher. I am glad that most of the work can be done during class, because it allows students who may have trouble remembering to do assignments at home more opportunities to succeed in the course. Overall, I think this model should be adopted by more teachers, and there is little I would do to improve it.

    Open Education Resources (OER) are information and learning resources you can access for free. One example of this is the internet archive. This website has many different resources you can view or even download, like books, photos, movies, etc. You can even check out books through their library system with an account. Since I am a history major, the internet archive make it easy and affordable to find various historical references and sources for my research. 

    Assignment 4 gave me an opportunity to become further acquainted with the PowerPoint program. While I have been using PowerPoint since 5th grade, the are some aspects of this assignment that forced me to do things I've never done before, like make word art, or narrate the PowerPoint. This has developed my understanding, and made me more equipped to use PowerPoint in the future. However, I do feel like 10 slides was a lot, and the prompt was somewhat unclear on the topic.

Blog 8

       The website creation assignment helped me learn how to use a programs interface to create websites. While doing this, I considered colors, as well as font choices and images. I specifically tried to use only three colors, those being red, black, and white. This combination of colors is one of my favorites. I liked that this assignments allowed me to be creative in considering ways to help students through website design, and I will certainly use what I've learned when designing a class website in the future.

       https://mjh01122004project.weebly.com/ 

       I tend to never use ai tools because I think that they are too unreliable. They can at times provide inaccurate information, and so I try to keep away from them as much as possible. It seems a bit old fashioned of me, but I have a rather negative view of ai, not simply just because it's unreliable, but also because of moral implications. AI currently is the worst it will ever be, and as it improves, has the potential to replace seemingly ever job in the United States, possibly even the world. It could easily take every working class job and leave people destitute. I am all for technological progress, but the way AI threatens individuals autonomy and control over their own labor frightens me. 

     I find that AI tend to be pretty by the books. A consequence of making a machine that uses logic to predict the best outcome is that its own actions become predictable. Unless I know little about a subject, I can generally predict what a chatbot is going to say, as well as the language it tends to use. My view tends to not change on this matter, and I assume that AI would agree with me.

     I do think that AI tools can be productive if used properly. However, only with human oversight. Humans must watch over AI to check for mistakes and poor interpretation. This is how AI reaches its full potential, however as mentioned earlier, I am apprehensive to employ AI in everyday use.

Blog 7

 The website of the Highschool I went to, Wakulla High, seems to have been updated recently. While there are not pages for individual classes, there are pages for clubs, as well as teachers. Some don't have a separate page, and just list the teachers name, as well as their contact info. There is also other general information on the school website, like pictures, senior info, and specific parent/student information.

https://whs.wakullaschooldistrict.org/ 

   I think that for education, I would likely not use as much tech as other teachers, simply because some student may not have access. However, we may use things like canvas or Microsoft word for assignments. I would also probably have to help my students learn how to research for a paper. Though these things may be simple, they are very important for a learning environment. 

    I liked how many options the groups feature in Canvas gives you. It allows for a lot of creativity and diversity in design. However, it isn't always the most clear on usability. This can greatly limit creativity, however, once you get the hang of it, it becomes pretty easy.

Blog 6

     Diigo is a very interesting resource. It is good for compiling resources, whether it be your own personal bookmarks, or group bookmarks. You can also annotate any first thought you have on the bookmark so you don't forget it. My only problem is that the site is too messy. It's almost overwhelming with how cluttered and small the home screen looks. It takes a second to get used to, however when you understand how to use the website, it's pretty intuitive.

    I don't really like blogging. It doesn't really allow me to fully express my thoughts in the same way I can through speaking. Sure, writing has it's place, but I much rather prefer to use it for short excepts or throw away thoughts like on twitter. I can easily convey my thoughts through speech or video, but writing out blogs feels like there a separation between me and the reader, almost like an internal dissociation. After this class, I do not intend to blog at all, it's just not for me.

    If I ever teach, I may use remind to contact parents. This would make communication a lot easier, and maybe even decrease response time. It would also allow regular reminders for classwork due dates and project. This would help kids get work done and turned in on time. Overall, I think it would be a great tool to use in the classroom. 

https://www.remind.com/  

Blog 5

     Honestly, I don't think Twitter is the best tool for my PLN. It just feels to isolated to really function well for specific education purposes. Sure, you could make posts, retweet, comment, and use hashtags to find conversations, but this is all undercut by how twitter's algorithm handles engagement. Now, if you do not have a blue checkmark, is is extremely difficult to find your posts, and in order to have any sort of voice on Twitter you have to pay for Twitter Blue. I feel like other websites are not as lonely, and allow you to better converse with likeminded individuals. Plus their are various other problems with Twitter that I don't want to discuss in this blog related to the content of the website overall. 

    It is clear that the digital divide between students is a class issue. This means that students will not have the same resources or performance due to their socioeconomic background. This is clearly due to economic inequality, as well as the ways we fund different schools, specifically with relating to how Florida funds schools with local residents tax money. This all creates a lower and upper class among county school systems, which illustrates bigger systemic problems with society as a whole. For my classroom, I would address this by allowing time in class to access the internet, and reduce the amount of items that require specific technology.

    If I were ever to become a foreign language teacher, which is very much a possibility, I would have students use Duolingo for practice. Of course, this would make up a small portion of class activities, but Duolingo is a good way to solidify language and vocabulary, specifically with regards to writing. I would also use Microsoft Word, as if I became a history teacher, it is expected that students write at least one paper. I also think PowerPoint is a good addition, since its adds more elements than just words, and can spice up an otherwise boring activity. 

Blog Post 4

     For my standard, I chose the 11th-12th grade which requires students to "Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem." This standard means that a student should not only be able to find information in various places, but also describe and interpret that information relatively intuitively. I feel prepared to implement this standard because I am generally very good at finding and relaying information to others. Therefore, I don't think that teaching this skill to other people would be too difficult for me.

    When I looked at the resources on Cpalms, I was pleasantly surprised to see general guides for lesson plans. This could be very helpful for teachers starting out, as well as those who may be teaching a new subject for the first time. I specifically looked at some of the US History lesson plans, and while I am glad they tend to be very general, I can't help but feel some of these lesson plans are asking the wrong guiding questions. Take for example the lesson plan for social security. While it does offer some relatively diverse sources and encourages kids to better analyze historical sources, its guiding question is quite simply "Which historical account is most accurate?" Of course there is nothing wrong with this inherently, as it is a good practice for identifying primary and secondary sources, however there are much better questions we could be asking based on the material within the lesson plan, like how did people of the time view social security versus today, or how did this debate over the new deal shape future legislations on social projects? Ultimately, this may be a good start for teachers to plan a lesson, yet they will inevitably need some tweaking depending on the class's needs. 

    In order to be a teacher who can introduce proper sources to students, you must be able to use google search relatively well. This means using some features we learned about this week, like google images or google advanced search. You can also use google scholar, which is specifically useful for accredited sources.  I personally find reverse image search to be very useful, as it is better at finding images than a simple word search.