Blog Post 7

Teacher pages on school websites are great! They contain links to contact teachers, and they contain information about teachers' interests and hometown and educations. Students and parents alike can visit school websites to find out more about their future teachers, if they just received their schedules. In university, students can look at professors and grad students areas of research as well, which helps foster connections. I think teacher pages are a great resource, especially if they're regularly updated.


Here is a link to a the homepage of a teacher at Marianna High School. On this page, it includes the types of classes she teaches, the syllabus for her upcoming AP class, and contact information. She teaches twelfth-grade students.

Blogging is fun! It is more relaxed than other mediums of communication. I get to talk more freely, here. I can speak using my opinion, but I can also engage in intelligent discussion. I like that we all are discussing the same topics, but bring different insight to each conversation. It puts our different experiences with education in perspective. My classmates are really smart; I like to read what they have to say.

During the Web Evaluation assignment, I became more familiar with the mechanics of making tables in Word. I found it difficult, at first, to confine the table within the margins, but it turned out nicely. It was hard to decide on which questions to ask, and how to formulate them into "yes or no" questions. Next time, I would probably use less questions that cover more material. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how my final result looked.


I commented on Minnie's and Karla's blogs. :)

Blog Post 6

I've used a ton of academic software as a student, which has allowed me to decide what programs and tools would be best to implement in the classroom. In my experience, Microsoft OneNote and Google Docs have been the best educational tools. I use them on a near-daily basis. Both software would be more effective for middle and high school students. OneNote is for taking clean, fast notes, which is needed for classes with dense information. Sometimes, writing notes on paper isn't fast or organized enough. Google Docs is effective for note-taking as well, but also for writing essays and outlines. Google Docs can be easily shared and saved amongst people. Both programs can be used on PCs and Macs, which make them more accessible.

I followed a lot of other teachers and educational twitter accounts so far. I've participated in a twitter thread that asked what the best age group of students to work with was, which opened up a larger discussion. I tweeted about my feelings towards my assignments, my educational experiences, and the technology I often use. Twitter has a welcoming, laid-back atmosphere that I admire. People can be more authentic and casual there! I can communicate with other aspiring teachers, like my classmates, and with people that have been teaching for years. In the future, it might be interesting to communicate with other teachers across America and internationally. It is also an interesting cultural platform that could keep me informed about the world.

I commented on Kinsley's blog and Kathryn's blog. :P

Blog Post 5

The ELA standards help teachers form their curriculum and ensure that students are prepared to continue to the next chapter of their educational career. Each grade possesses separate standards. Since I am most interested in teaching middle school students, I devoted a lot of time to examine the English Language Arts Standards for that age group. In particular, I focused on eighth grade standards. I am both confident in my capabilities and excited to teach my students every standard. However, some might be harder to instill than others. I am very good at teaching students larger themes of written works and helping them determine central ideas, which is Standard 8.2. I also think I can teach them how certain lines contribute to the plot of a story. However, analyzing subtext might prove to be difficult for both myself and students, because that information is not as overt. Those standards are 8.4 and 8.5.

CPALMs provides teachers with the tools and resources to help students meet the ELA standards. The tools are specific and numerous. For instance, if I was having trouble with the Literature standards mentioned above, CPALMs provides related courses, lesson plans, and further information. This is a resource that teachers can rely on if they're feeling stumped, or if a teaching method they were using was not as effective as they had hoped.

The Newsletter Design assignment allowed me to combine many skills that I had learned separately while using Microsoft Word into one document. There were some aspects of the assignment that were difficult for me: for example, I had trouble making the columns of the newspaper line up below the header. Also, I had been using shaded text for a very long time, yet I was not familiar with the term. My hyperlink to the Georgia Aquarium is not as obvious as I hoped, because the words 'Aquarium Trip' were already bolded and underlined. Also, I didn't put the actual date for some reason? I felt like I wanted to make it seem as authentic as possible, which was probably a mistake, in hindsight. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed my final product!

By the way, check out these posts. And my comments:
https://pedagogicalperegrinate.blogspot.com/2019/06/oers-and-their-benefits.html#comments
https://atorres0224.blogspot.com/2019/06/blog-4.html#comments

Blog Post 4

After spending twelve years in the public school system, I feel like most college students are very well-versed in open educational resources, despite not knowing much about the term itself. Open education describes both mundane and technological tools that can be used in an academic setting without any legal repercussions. Some advocates of open education also request that textbooks and resources be free of charge (https://sparcopen.org/open-education/), which I am inclined to agree with. A student with a lower socioeconomic status should have access to the same educational opportunities as more affluent students.

Open content is also critically important in classrooms because it allows teachers and students to modify content to fit lesson plans. There are five key aspects of open education, also known as the "Five Rs." These include retaining copies of the source material, reusing material, remixing and changing material, revising material, and redistributing material. Teachers are allowed a free range of control to teach material, which could cater better to the needs of students and give the teacher more autonomy over the classroom. Open content allows teachers to find variety in their teaching methods, and use sources that are more engaging for their students.

Open educational resources can be "any type of educational material" that is licensed for free, continued use. To me, this includes books, plays, music, and videos that are public domain. These materials often encourage free thought and open discussion. In this blog post, the author states that they reduce the cost of distribution, and cut prices that schools and students would otherwise have to pay. That alone is a compelling argument to continue using these resources. These resources are often found online, which lessens paper production and could potentially improve the environment! (https://opentextbc.ca/studenttoolkit/chapter/step-one-what-are-oer/)

Blog comments: :)
https://lexiijones.blogspot.com/2019/06/as-student-ive-mainly-used-microsoft.html?showComment=1560131512771#c5749867719299380656

https://letschatwithlucy.blogspot.com/2019/06/hello-and-welcome-back-week-3-lets-go.html?showComment=1560131928322#c4563843191734847371

Blog Post 3

Throughout my academic career, I have used Microsoft Word to construct countless essays. I am willing to wager that I've written hundreds of essays on Word, covering every topic imaginable. I have been using it since I was a child in sixth grade English class. Now, at twenty, not much has changed. I use Word to make lists, to outline essays, and to later write them. I have also used Word to take notes during lectures or do quick assignments online. My teachers and professors have used Microsoft Word throughout the years as well; they would be lost without it, truly. Professors construct exams, form syllabuses, make study guides, and design lesson plans on this program. It is efficient, effective, and easy to use.

The most notable example of students navigating copyright in the postsecondary realm is through citations and sourcing. Often, students need to include the opinions of other intellectuals to make their arguments sound, or to provide a counterargument. If one did not quote, source, or cite that material, it would be like claiming that the words of others are their own. Students can avoid plagiarism by taking these measures; or by citing whenever they're in doubt. Teachers have more difficulty with copyright laws because they'd like to provide supplemental materials like music and videos for their students, yet there is a chance that the information they're presenting information in an illegitimate way. Fair use, however, broadens educators' options for choosing materials to present in class.

To maintain privacy among students, I would encourage them to avoid using easy, guessable passwords. I would also urge them to change them often and to not tell anyone their passwords. Students need to be encouraged to keep security and identity information private, and not release personal information to the public. I would also ask that students log out of shared computers and tablets when they are done using them so that they do not find their information deleted or stolen. To encourage academic honesty, I would explain to students various ways one can be academically dishonest. Plagiarism and cheating are sometimes not as black and white as they seem, and students need to realize that the gray area could get them in trouble as well. I would make them aware of the consequences of academic dishonesty, and convey that the other options, like turning in an assignment late or getting a C on an essay, are much better than the initial punishment.

I left comments today on Bailey's and Margaux's blogs! They had some really interesting things to say.