Final Blogfolio

Assignment Reflections

1.      Intro video

a.       The main thing I learned from this assignment was exactly how blogger works. I had always heard about blogging and what not but I had no clue what to expect. This assignment really showed how me how connected you really are with the entire world when you get onto the internet.

b.      The main problem I faced in this assignment was just coming out of my shell. I remember the first day of class looking around being so disappointed that I was the only male in the class. I felt really shy and awkward speaking in front of the camera, I had no clue how I was going to handle being the only guy in the entire class.

c.       To solve this problem basically I just had to toughen up. Early on in the class I realized that my future job will have me speaking in front of large groups of people every day no matter what their gender is.

d.      Speaking in front of people is all part of the learning and teaching process. If you are comfortable with people it really makes your life easier in so many different ways. If you’re more social you meet more people and are given more opportunities. I could even explain to my class how I overcame this to show them this isn’t that bad.

e.       I feel like the NETS-T standard this meets is number 1 (Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity). I feel like this because it is a student reflection and it calls for promotion in student reflections.

2.      TED Videos

a.       The main thing I learned from this assignment was the challenges that teachers face every day. The class got to see a bunch of seasoned and veteran teachers speak and tell stories of their classes. You could just hear in their voice how passionate they were about these experiences, and it really almost made me nervous I wasn’t passionate enough about teaching.

b.      I guess the problem I encountered was feeling almost beneath these people. Being a rookie and new to all of this stuff I felt like these speakers were so much more than me for all that they accomplished and have achieved.

c.       Initially I was intimated and worried about all this but as it progressed it only motivated me to someday get to that point as both a teacher and a coach. I used this motivation to push myself past my discomfort.

d.      I will have to just gain more experience teaching to fully understand these stories and experiences and make my own memories. I feel if I become more experienced I will be able to integrate my knowledge into my classroom.

e.       I feel like the NETS-T standard this meets is number 5 (Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership. I believe the assignment covers this standard because  the videos show several older teachers who have a very charismatic way about them where they just give off extremely strong vibes of leadership.

3.      Concept Map

a.       This activity really taught me a lot. I learned exactly what a concept map was and I also learned a new way to express information to my classroom. I found it fun we were given so much freedom on this assignment so I was allowed to create my concept map on my favorite educational topic (World War 2).

b.      The main problem I encountered was deciding what information to use. There was only a limited amount of information we could put onto our concept map, so I had to really pick about five topics I felt were the best. It was so hard to select just one to use for this.

c.       To solve this problem I looked at a couple things. First I looked at what topics I found were most important and stood out to me. I also wanted topics I enjoyed. I felt if I really liked the topics that I would be able to teach them better and come up with better information, and also teach with a higher level of passion.

d.      I can definitely see myself incorporating this into my future classroom. I was able to put links to very informative videos right into the text and they were just a click away. I could make multiple concept maps and teach entire units based off them. I would love to use the inspiration program in the future and love how it allowed you to create your own designs.

e.       I feel like the NETS-T standard this meets is number 3 (Model Digital Age Work and Learning). I feel it best shows this because it emphasizes a transfer of current knowledge which this did and also collaboration with peers (we each got to see each other’s concept maps displayed)

4.      Do Not Track Me

a.       This assignment taught me so much. I learned from this assignment just how easy it is for people to lose personal information to stalkers or hackers. It really taught me how to keep my information and the massive consequences that could arise from not doing so. I learned how many malicious and cruel people there are on the internet that are just looking to hack and steal. I also learned how many different types of viruses there are.

b.      My main problem from this assignment was realizing how unsecure all my passwords and things of that nature were on all my personal accounts. My password would have been so simple for someone else to figure out because they were so closely related to me and all very similar.  

c.       As far as solving this problem: After this assignment I went through and changed all my passwords to something less personal and way harder to figure out. From my Facebook password to my bank password I changed everything to things so difficult to remember I had to write them all down.

d.      This will definitely be lessons that I teach my future students when my assignments take themselves to the internet. Younger kids are actually a lot of hackers and dangerous web user’s favorite target because they are so young and oblivious to the dangers. So it will be my responsibility to show them the safe and cautious way to use the internet.

e.       I feel like the NETS-T standard this meets is number 4 (Promote and Model Digital Citizenship). This was a no brainer because this standard has a heavy emphasis on safety.

5.      Augmented Reality

a.       This assignment really shows how fast technology is moving, and how useful it can be inside the classroom. I learned how this exciting new way is being demonstrated and used in classrooms.

b.      I actually had a lot of issues with this assignment. I struggled so much because it was so advanced that I could not even understand it. I had to read through the article about five times. It was a really difficult concept for me to understand, how putting an image on a screen could allow the device to pull up information.

c.       I solved my problem by actually looking more into it because I really did understand what it was or what it’s function was. I really had to do extra research to be able to write anything relevant about it.

d.      I honestly don’t think I will use anything like this in my classroom in the future. It is just so advanced, and scares me because things this advanced make me feel as if in a short time robots will be teaching students in schools. It’s just really strange even the name “augmented reality” makes it sound so futuristic.

e.       I feel like the NETS-T standard this meets is number 2 (Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences & Assessments). This is because this standard asks for use of digital tools and promotes student learning. Augmented reality does both of these things.

6.      Voki

a.       This was one of the more fun assignments we were given in class. We learned about Voki which is a tool where you can create and personalize a character and type in text for them to speak. I had no idea this existed and it really was fun to type of things for my character speak about. You could even change your characters accent.

b.      The biggest issue I had was trying to imagine teaching a class online and what I would want my character to say in the introduction. I feel as if it would be hard to express who you really are with a digital character. More communication is actually done through body language then actually speaking.

c.       To solve this problem I decided to just go with a more professional approach and use a lot of positive reinforcement. I almost felt as I was too generic with my introduction I had the character say to my “class” but it ended up coming together in the end and getting the points across that I wanted.

d.      I could see myself using Voki in the future for sure if I ever setup a website for my classroom. I could type the exact instructions I wanted to give my class and then they could just simply press play and hear everything I wanted them to say without me forgetting to mention anything, and they could always replay it if they didn’t understand.

e.       I feel like the NETS-T standard this meets is number 3 (Model Digital Age Work & Learning). I think this because we had to be so creative with this and each of my peers had to create their own character and intro. This standard calls for relevant information and ideas which we definitely needed to do here.

7.      Web 2.0 Sites

a.       I may have learned more on this assignment than any other. This activity actually took some time for the class to complete but there was just so much information being show. Everyone was assigned two websites to research about and demonstrate with. My two were pixton and podbean. I learned about both and mine were actually pretty decent and I can honestly see myself possibly using these in the future.

b.      The main problem that I found was that these sites to be fully functional require you to buy a membership. They were actually pretty pricey with their cumulative asking price coming to around a thousand dollars together for a year.

c.       To solve this issue I found the free parts of the site and was able to put together something to present. I actually showed pixton to my friends and we made some pretty funny comic strips and showed them to our other friends.

d.      I would definitely use podbean in the future for my classes. It’s like a podcast so I could record a lecture and post it to the internet if I had to miss class. This is actually a pretty common thing that college teachers actually do pretty frequently, so I could see myself using it. Pixton I feel may be too much fun to focus but then again you had to buy the educational version of it, so I was only able to use the fun section of it.

e.       I feel like the NETS-T standard this meets is number 5 (Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership). I feel like this was appropriate because the way we presented the information was actually as if we were teaching a class. We even had to discipline our classmates, so this definitely promoted leadership skills.

8.      My Website

a.       I learned a lot from this assignment not only about using it in the future but how to exactly make a website because I was always clueless. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to present my website in class because of time shortages but I really liked it. I wasn’t very good at crafting in and making it look pretty but I feel as if my information was really relevant, and I liked how I linked it to an athlete to make it seem bigger.

b.      My main issue was figuring out the science behind making the site. How to move things or how to post videos without it just being just an url address. I was never a very computer savvy person it never really clicked with me but I definitely got the hang of it after I finished my first of four pages. Another issue I had was trying to find new exciting information that my classmates would not find so I could be different.

c.       I eventually figured out the mechanics of things and got help from my classmates and instructor and was able to piece together all of the pages, and even figure out how to put the calendar onto my page.

d.      If I got better at making the site look better I could see myself making a website for my class. I could post home works on there. One thing I did differently from everyone else was putting a Voki character on my page. With this I could also give students specific instruction.

e.        I feel like the NETS-T standard this meets is number 4 (Promote and Model Digital Citizenship) I thought it was this standard because the theme of our site had to be something with online safety. I personally selected cyber bullying to use much like my other classmates.

9.      My Movie

a.       I really found this assignment fun. It was a great finale assignment to the class because it allowed us to show a lot about our life to our classmates. From our taste in genre of music to personal photos which we cherish. Even though I heard a lot of feminine music from all the girls so, naturally I had to make things more masculine by using the “Rocky Theme Song”. I learned how to create my own movie and add captions and transitions.

b.      I had some issues figuring out the timing of the slides and I had captions appearing on the wrong slides. My biggest issue was finding a way to get the movie to work on my blog site.

c.       I was able to figure out how to work the My Movie program better after being exposed to it longer and I figured out my captions. Also with the help from my instructor I was able to put the movie onto my blog and display my wacky video to the class.

d.      This is something I would definitely like to use in my classroom. I could see multiple uses. One being in the beginning of the school year showing a video of myself to my class so they could better understand who is going to be teaching them this year. I can see another use being an end of the year activity where the students made movies of their favorite moments to show the class.

e.       I feel like the NETS-T standard this meets is number 2 (Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences & Assessments). I believe it is this standard because it talks about customizing and personalizing activities, and I found this to be one of the more personal activities with everyone showing each other part of their life story.

Course Reflection:

Coming into this course I was really nervous because I am not really great with technology and especially nervous on the first day when I discovered I was the only male in the class besides the instructor. I would have to say that the main thing I learned in this class would have to be not only just knowledge about technology in the classroom, but more important how to be social with a class and not intimidated. I feel like my strongest point in this class was my creativity. I always seemed to have something that was a lot different than everyone else. A big part of this may have been the fact that I was the only guy but I still feel even if there were other guys that my creativity would still provide everyone with entertainment. My weakest point was my inability to keep up with the article responses. I have never been a huge reader and then having eighteen hours and a tough math class I definitely wasn’t as good as I could have been on the article responses. I regret that for sure. It was no excuse and I have to be better in the future. It’s not fun having to play catch up but I still learned a lot from this class. The goals I will need to use in the future to benefit this will have to be just jump right into things when I am done with class. Rather than putting things off I should really stay on top of things better, and not forget and make careless mistakes. Much like what this class taught things in this world are moving faster and faster every day, and I need to be faster and better so I can assure that I will always be successful not just in classes such as this one, but in life in general overall. Coming into the class I did not like a classroom with technology and it seemed to be a common trend that everyone felt that way for a while in this class. But strangely as the course moved on people seemed to stop complaining about it and warmed up to the idea. I can really see myself using technology in my classroom from a smart board to using one of the websites we looked at together in the classroom. I enjoyed the blog in this class. It keeps all your assignments together and at the same time allows your classmates the ability to read your thoughts and feelings about important topic. It is definitely a possibility that I will use a blog somehow in the future in my teaching career. Truly was fascinated with the way this class’s initial opinion changed so much. This class really had a large impact on me and I learned so many things not just about using technology but also possible teaching strategies to use in the future, with all the practice we got presenting.