Life in Color {Spring23-EME2040}

      For this first prompt, I went back and looked at some websites of the teachers from my old middle school. I found some similarities across the group of theme: links to a syllabus, the online textbook portal, some information about the course, and a separate page with external links. This middle school uses Google Classroom as their primary classroom software, and so many of the websites directed parents and students to check that first, if they had any questions about assignments, announcements, or projects and tests. One thing that I did like about using a website is the ability to tailor it to your specific course, or other school roles and responsibilities. For example, a Civics teacher who happens to be the soccer coach for the school, included a page for information about the soccer team as well. Additionally, being a gifted teacher, she created a distinct page for providing links to articles and other sites about giftedness and education, parenting a gifted st...

     Before this class, I had never heard of or used Diigo for research. Gale does have a similar platform, where you can annotate, download, and highlight sources, so I can see how Diigo would be equally useful.  Personally, the format is easy enough to navigate. In particular, I liked the ability to see a recently visited webpage on your Diigo page with the extension. Overall it seems intuitive enough and the fact that it is free is a huge plus if I were to have future students use this in my classroom.     I would use Evernote as my Web 2.0 resource. It allows you to create forms and handouts and allows you to share them digitally with parents and students. Additionally, it also has the ability to sync notes amongst multiple electronic devices. It features an in-app camera and has a "learner profile" function, making it possible to put down notes personalized to each student, evaluations, and recommendations pertaining to the student. It is a t...

      The digital divide is a considerably involved issue that deeply affects our education system and the opportunity and success of students across the United States.   Technology has permeated our daily lives, such that its presence is hardly avoidable. In turn, the use of personal devices, computers, and laptops have become integrated into lesson plans, group assignments, homework. Even under ordinary circumstances, children without access to a computer or internet at home find themselves at more of a disadvantage than their peers. Particularly during a time like COVID, when schools were put online almost entirely, a child's access to technology, or lack thereof greatly impacted their ability to keep up their personal academic progress and stay on par with peers. Furthermore, depending on how well funded a school district is, students who may be looking to their school to help provide them with the electronic devices they need to complete their work, actuall...

      After looking at the ELA Technology Standards for grades K-2, I chose to focus in on Benchmark SC.K2.CS-CP.3.1 To describe it in my own words, it means showing that you, meaning the student, is capable of making digital visuals, presentations, etc. alongside help from those in the classroom and at home, whether teachers, parents an guardians, or peers. I feel that I will be able to teach and uphold this standard in my classroom as a teacher for a couple of reasons. Firstly, as the benchmark outlines, students are expected to create things that are "developmentally appropriate", meaning that they are only expected to create something that is on par with their grade level. Thus, if working with a class of first graders, I do not need to need to be able to get them to understand how to make, say an iMovie, on their own. Rather, they may only need to know how to type information that they learned from their research in a few slides and add in a few pictures, a...

       When it comes to technology in the classroom, there is plenty of controversy to be raised. Figuring out what role it should have, the day to day amount of use, and how much teachers should devote to instructing students on technology skills is an important and relevant endeavor in the year 2023. But even once we reach a decision on how computers and tablets and online platforms will be incorporated into our classrooms, there still remains some concerns and hurdles to address. Chiefly among these, are academic dishonesty and decreased productivity. It begs the question, "H ow can we as teachers address these issues in our classrooms?"  Can we find lasting solutions, or are we simply supposed to mitigate the damage?     To those two issues, I have a solution for each. One of the things that my high school anatomy teacher did during my junior year, was to have cloth- hanging phone pockets on up on her back wall. We were not required to keep our pho...

      To be honest, before starting this class, my practical experience with Microsoft Applications was limited. In the tenth grade I had taken the certification tests for PowerPoint, Word, and Excel, however I did not really use any of them in everyday life. If there was an essay to write for a class, a slideshow to make, etc., I simply utilized Google Slides and Google Docs. I found it easier to do group projects with others on those platforms, mainly because of the ability to share the documents with others and their user-friendly comment feature.  Additionally, the fact that everything automatically saved and uplinked to my school provided account's cloud, meant that I could finally stop using flash drives and quit having stress moments about whether or not I remembered to save the latest changes. In a sense, Microsoft applications just felt outdated. They were not easily synced to my school email, or as accessible to my teachers either. In th...

 H i! I'm Cassandra,  and I am so excited to share with you all my journey in EME2040 this semester!     I love being creative even in the little things and exploring the world through novels. I also love to imagine stories of my own and put them to paper. Movie musicals from the 50s and 60s are my favorite, and classical music is a must on any given day. As a college student, I am very excited for this class and this new Spring in 2023! I hope to encourage you guys as I relate my own educational technologies experiences along with everything new that I will be learning over the next fourteen or so weeks.     Growing up, I was straddled between traditional education tools and the emerging technological age. Sure there were whiteboards and transparencies, but there were also SmartBoards and platforms such as Google Classroom and later Canvas. In the then brave new era of the early-mid 2000s, we still had a steady blend of assignments completed online and tho...