EME2040 Blog

For this post, I decided to look at Saunders Middle School (6-8 grade) in Manassas, Virginia (Prince William County Public Schools). There was a tab dedicated to class pages which had various subjects listed, from Language Arts to Orchestra.  Link:  https://saundersms.pwcs.edu/departments Some pages were not updated, but others, like the ones I chose to include here, were. The first one I looked at was Mr. Wilcher's band class page. There, he had listed the concert schedule, practice schedule, advice to the parents, and a supply list.  Link:  https://saundersms.pwcs.edu/departments/music___drama/band/ Secondly, I looked at Ms. Phillip's Instructional Technology page. Hers was different from Mr. Wilcher's in that she didn't have a schedule or supply list, but instead had many, many links to different technological tools, like flashcards, apps, etc. Link:  https://saundersms.pwcs.edu/departments/instructional_technology_resource_teacher/ My clas...

Web 2.0 technologies that I think are useful in the classroom include video websites, like YouTube, and social media sites, like Twitter. YouTube is very helpful in showing students how to do something or giving them more information on a topic, like for a science project or history paper. Twitter, on the other hand, is an easy-to-use, easy-to-access social media site that allows you to connect with your students and their parents on a professional platform. A Web 2.0 tool that I will definitely use in my classroom will be RefWorks. RefWorks allows for students to find credible websites and articles for a research project and save them into one place without the hassle of keeping track of which sites they've used. Not only that, RefWorks has the really cool function of searching websites you've saved and creating them into a bibliography. RefWorks is a great site that I wish I had known about in school. Website:  https://refworks-proquest-com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/ I really...

For my first ILP, I decided to make a tutorial on Subtraction with Regrouping. It was made with Apple iMovie. No copyrighted music was used in the production of this video.

For this web evaluation assignment, I chose fifth grade science as my subject. Article 1: http://beyondpenguins.ehe.osu.edu/issue/weather-and-climate-from-home-to-the-poles/weather-and-climate-the-short-and-the-long-of-it The first link/article was titled "Weather and Climate: the Short and the Long of It." I found this to be a very reliable, trustworthy source. In regards to CRAAP, this website was last edited in 2008, but it was written on a scientific subject that has not changed at all. It was very neat and organized, with error-free, easy language. There were working reference links (one link, however, did not work) and a link to the homepage. In regards to authority, the article was written by Andy Monaghan, whose credentials were listed on a separate link on the site, and published by the Ohio State University on a restricted domain (.edu). The facts were all detailed and accurate, with no bias nor advertisements. Its purpose was to educate elementary school stude...

I have been using Twitter to share interesting articles I find and things we've been learning in class. I have not replied to nor retweeted anyone's Tweets yet, but I will be sure to do that in the future. I know a lot of teachers at my high school had Twitter accounts to remind students of upcoming assignments, advertise events around school, and connect with their students on a professional media platform. When I am a teacher, I will likely use it the same way. The digital divide is defined in the podcast as the difference between students who have ready access to technology and the Internet versus those who do not. This can create a big gap in student success. A student who has a nice computer and high-speed Internet at home will perform better in the long run compared to a student who lives in a rural area with a 20th century computer and no Internet access. As a teacher, this will be a problem I will likely face more than once. In order to counteract this, I will be sur...

I have always been comfortable with finding appropriate videos and audio on YouTube and other sites. I feel as though I will be most prepared to teach my students ELA Standard RL.7 ("Multimedia": Literature). In my language arts classes, we always analyzed videos and compared them to the text, which is essentially what this standard covers. I am not very good at creating, so I will likely have some issues with standard W/WHST.6 ("Use Technology"), which is all about publishing, collaborating, etc. I will need to become more comfortable with that so I can be a more efficient teacher. I really enjoyed our newsletter assignment. It was a great way for me to get more familiar with all the different features of Word and get creative. When I was designing mine, I had no idea what WordArt was (I had to Google it). Overall though, it was a pretty easy assignment and everything was pretty straight-forward. If I were to do this assignment again, I would be more familiar ...