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.

Blog Post 3

     I am a relatively creative person, therefore most of the materials I would use as a teacher would be self made. However, we would still use books within the classroom, and while I cannot hand out copied whole books, I can get a class set and distribute them to the class. Of course, their is a worry that I might accidentally put copyrighted material in my work, but I am not too worried. After all, I would intend on using very little copyrighted materials, and the way in which I intend to use them is protected since this is in the education field. 

    In the South, I think one of the biggest concerns about technology implementation is accessibility. There are many families that may just not have the means to access the internet at home for various reasons, so I find it important to still keep the majority of assignments in person. However, for assignments online, it is important to allow time in class for students to finish online assignments. This not only allows students who don't have internet access to complete their assignments free of worry, but also gives students a chance to ask questions about how to complete the assignment.

    I think that for the most part, AI is a negative addition to classroom right now. AI is not nearly good enough to add into the learning environment, and we see this in how students have attempted to use it to cheat on work. Often times, when students use ChatGPT or other AI software,  it is very clearly not someone's original work, whether due to writing style or even blatantly incorrect information. I'm not saying that it can never be useful, as I can say see it be a useful tool in the future, but for now, it is way too soon.

    I already knew how to do most of the things required for the newsletter. However, I did use word art for the first time. This allowed me to add a bit more variation in the design of the newsletter, and can help spice up a rather boring project. I also learned how to shade areas, which is another fun way to help design future projects in word.