Multimedia Project

Link

Creating an introductory video for a program that I myself had just learned about was a little intimidating, but I think it was an amazing idea. I think this is a great way to introduce programs to students that they can use for projects, so that they know how to use the program, and can always have access to the video recording once it's posted online. This is a great resource for students, parents, teachers, and everyone that could possibly be looking to use this program. I had a lot of fun learning more about Glogster and how it can help in education! 

Electronic Portfolio

Link 

Creating a portfolio of all of the work that I have created throughout this course is a lot of hard work, but it's worth it. Now I have a place where I can access all of my work in one place, and look back and see how I felt about it, and the most important things that I learned during the semester. It takes a very long time to do all of this work but it makes it easier for everyone, especially the teacher of the course. Making your students create a portfolio, especially an electronic one is a good idea to save time and make sure they're not missing any work, and make sure you don't lose any of their work. Plus, Google sites is very easy to use.

Wow!

My Web of Wonders Project

Working on this project was a lot of fun, but the only thing I didn't really enjoy was my five-minute time limit. Obviously, my video went a couple minutes longer, but I still had so much more that I could talk about. I have learned so many different things in this course, and I wanted to share all of them in my summary of each topic, but it wasn't realistic. Every little thing I learned, and every big thing, will go towards making my classroom so much better than it ever could have been before I took this class. From understanding TPACK and being able to use it in my incorporation of technology, to being able to understand the controversies that come with certain technologies like simulations. This project is something that I will be able to keep forever, and continue looking back at, so I can remember all of the most important parts of what I learned in this class.

Integrating Technology into the Biology Classroom

Here is the link to a Glogster I made about integrating technology into the modern biology classroom!

There are many ways that science teachers already use technology for their teaching, however, it can always be better. I attached a rubric below that teachers can use, but I also have a few suggestions myself. One of the most important for me is being creative with it. In order to really engage students, your class needs to be exciting, and technology can really help with that. Science teachers understand the benefits of a lot of different kinds of technology, like excel, however, they can tend to get caught up in the eases of PowerPoint. Try getting outside the box a little more and don't just have the info up on a slide that the students need to just copy down. 

Staying Safe

Mike-tosis

As a biology teacher, I thought this video would be especially helpful for me to show in class! I would use it in conjunction with the mitosis/meiosis topic and use a lab that was designed to show the spread of disease. Students would put gloves on and then touch something, one of them being coated in E. coli. They would then go around and shake each other's hands transferring the E. coli to one another. They would then swab their gloves and plate the swab to see which people ended up with the bacteria on their gloves. This would show how quickly something can spread even when you can't see it, and just like an infectious disease, it can really hurt people.

Warning Signs

https://www.stopbullying.gov/

Warning signs a child is being cyberbullied to look out for: 

• Noticeable increases or decreases in device use, including texting.
• A child exhibits emotional responses (laughter, anger, upset) to what is happening on their device.
• A child hides their screen or device when others are near, and avoids discussion about what they are doing on their device.
• Social media accounts are shut down or new ones appear.
• A child starts to avoid social situations, even those that were enjoyed in the past.
• A child becomes withdrawn or depressed, or loses interest in people and activities.

As teachers, it is important that we make sure all of our students are safe so they can get the best education they can. When they are being cyberbullied they are usually not able to focus in class, as they are constantly worried about it, and can't learn what is being taught. If you believe that one of your students is being cyberbullied, it is important to talk to them and their parents about it before doing anything else so that you can confirm your suspicions. It is also important to have digital awareness yourself, so that you know what is going on online and better understand what the kids are going through. Overall, the best thing you can do as a teacher is maintaining your role as a positive role model, and continuing to encourage students to work together and become self-aware, especially when it comes to their emotions.


The 5 Best Internet Safety Resources for Teachers

Forms of Cyber-Bullying

6 Types of Cyberbullying

The NY State Attorney General defines cyber-bullying as "the use of e-mail, web sites, instant messaging, chat rooms, cell phone text messaging and digital cameras to antagonize and intimidate others." The link above also includes 6 of the most common types of cyber-bullying that students can encounter. The list includes:

• Harassing someone: Usually consists of threats, or other verbal forms of bullying sent through any kind of messaging system, and is mostly anonymous
• Impersonating someone: Usually includes convincing other people that you are that person and thus spreading lies and ruining friendships
• Using photographs: Most often nude or embarrassing photos threatened to be sent out to a large group of people
• Creating Websites, Blogs, Polls, and More: Spreading rumors and building support via social media platforms to turn people against the victim
• Participating in Video Shaming: Similar to photographs, but threats to share embarrassing videos online
• Engaging in Subtweeting or Vaguebooking: Never mention the victims name but are very clearly about the victim

Online Security

Looking at this image it shows a lot of very important aspects of online security, and how you can stay safe online. There are logins and passwords that protect important accounts, and there are safety checks when you forget what those are (which can happen a lot, for someone as forgetful as me). I also see the importance of where you put your information, like your credit card number and social security number, as these can help someone steal your identity or all of your money. It is incredibly important to know how to stay safe online, and probably something that should be taught in schools!

Copyright Resources

Here are some helpful links if anyone is looking to learn more about copyright and fair use laws! These are all useful when trying to understand what you can and cannot do as an educator, in order to make your classroom and teaching better for your students.


Teaching Students Digital Civility Goes Hand-in-Hand with Tech Rollouts

Copyright for Educators

Copyright Education Resources

The Educators' Lean and Mean No FAT Guide to Fair Use

The Educator's Guide to Copyright and Fair Use

Don't Just Copy, Right?

Quiz

Taking the quiz linked above showed me how much I really don't know about copyright laws (even though I think the quiz is a little old because it talked about using cassette tapes). I think not too many people know about copyright laws, and it seems as though doing something, even if you didn't know it was illegal, can get you in a lot of trouble.

Quiz 2
Answers

The second quiz I took I did much better on, 9/10 questions correct. This shows that I actually learned something between taking the two quizzes. For me, I think the most important thing I learned was that educators are allowed to use portions of copyrighted material without permission, which is something I did not think would be allowed! However, I am glad that it is, because I think it's important for educators to be able to have access to as many resources as possible, especially when trying to give students the best education they can get. 

Google Suite

Introducing G Suite for Education

In high school growing up the start of the Google revolution was beginning. We constantly used docs, slides, and Google Classroom for all of our work and projects, because it was this newer technology that made sharing and collaborating so much easier. But now, Google has gone even further by incorporating smarter technology into their systems and making everything even easier for students with this new G suite designed specifically for education. I love this idea, especially because it saves the students time. This means that students will be able to learn more and get their work done faster, leaving more time for them to do things that they want to do, which is super important, especially in high school. Plus the new setup is super cool! I love being able to go through new technology and see all of the crazy new things that we have never been able to do before. Google just keeps bringing us closer and closer to the future.

Drill and Kill

I think most people understand the concept of drill and practice learning and know why it has its clever nickname "drill and kill," however, I think there is more use to this technique than people think, especially with the advancing technology of the modern world. I definitely believe that this technique can be overused in classrooms a lot, however, one place I think it is incredibly useful is when learning new vocab that comes with a topic. In order for students to be able to learn the content of a new topic they need to be fluent in a new voabulary, and drill and practice can help speed this along. But, the teacher needs to find new ways to make it fun for the students!!

Integrating Emerging Technology

There are so many amazing new technologies coming out every single day, that's just the state of the new innovational world we live in. The question is, how do we use all of it to our advantage? And with so many new technologies coming out, how do we weed out what the best ones to use are?

One of, I believe, the coolest new technology is VR, or virtual reality. This tech allows you to essentially 'walk' into a video. You view a screen that takes up your entire vision, and moves the video as you move, essentially allowing you to feel like you are in the same place as what you are watching. This could be an incredibly useful technology, especially in a biology class. Bio is full of so many different experiences that aren't necessarily practical for the classroom setting. through VR students will be able to walk through different ecosystems and see the relationships of all of the different creatures that live there, they'll be able to shrink down into the body and see all of the systems and how they work and make all of the different things that make us who we are. VR could be used to help stir the imaginations of the kids and get them passionate about my subject.

This new technology redesigns the way we include the four C's of education into our classrooms: collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and communication. With all of these new ways of communicating from long distances through things like texting, email, and many other apps as well, students can not only better collaborate with each other and ask the teacher for help from home, but also reach out to other students across the world. Technology also allows for an immense increase in the availability of creative projects in the classroom. So many apps and websites have been created to help students design, animate, color, record, caption, anything you can think of. Student creativity has even started becoming part of the rubrics for projects, and I love this! I think that people lose their creativity as they get older, and it makes them more boring. Creativity is fun and exciting, and it also leads to better problem-solving skills! Technology has lead to better classrooms, and integrating with integrating it the benefits will far outweigh the disadvantages.

Edmodo

Edmodo

Linked above is a website (and app) that can be used in an educational setting called Edmodo. I used this app in high school and it was not only a great deal of fun to use, but also super helpful as a student, and now as a teacher. It allows students and teachers to communicate in a group setting outside of the classroom and allows teachers to share materials and assignments easily with students in a place they have constant access to. This can be so important because students won't be at risk to lose important papers, or forget when assignments are due because they have access to them all the time. Students can also get quick answers to questions that they have on their work or the topics they are learning. Teachers also have the ability to collect, grade, and return students' work through the app making it not only easier and faster but also paperless, so better for the environment. Overall this app is nothing but useful for both teachers and students!

Appropriate use

Video

Something that is incredibly important with students and the technology boom is that, because they haven't been allowed to use their phones/computers at all in schools, they have no idea what is appropriate at home. A lot of the time this can lead to online bullying once the students get home. They need to be taught how to appropriately use social media and other parts of the web in school so that they understand what is ok, and what isn't. Otherwise, this cyber-bullying epidemic will never end.

Creating in the Classroom

Recently, I used Puzzlemaker to create a word search for my biology students as a bit of an introduction to my course. You can see it below if you want to try it! This is just to get kids familiar with some of the big words we will be throwing around all year. This was really fun to come up with and get creative with, and I really liked that it does it automatically for you! In high school, I always used to love when teachers gave me puzzles like this, and now I know that I can definitely do the same!

Education 3.0

The Genesis and Emergence of Education 3.0

This article talks about the three 'generations' of education. Education 1.0 is what education was like before, the teacher told the students what to learn, and they learned it. Education 2.0 is using web 2.0 tools to enhance the classroom and education 3.0 is characterized by cross-cultural educational opportunities where the learners play a key role as creators of their own knowledge, and where social networking and social benefits outside the immediate scope of activity play a strong role. Education 3.0 comes from a place of individual creativity, where students can learn how they need to, while still getting the best education possible, and while also incorporating technology as well. This new kind of education seems to me like it would be incredibly beneficial to every single student.

Tech in the Classroom

Video

The principal in this video talks about how important it is for his teachers to be introducing all of these new and increasingly important technologies in their classrooms, not just to enhance the learning of the students, but also to allow them to develop an understanding of the technology so that they will be able to use it in the future as well.  I think I will definitely be able to use this philosophy in my classroom because my high school biology teacher did it in hers. She taught us how to use excel properly, and after that, I was ahead of everyone else who didn't learn how to use it, and I got many assignments in college done so much faster because my high school teacher used, as well as taught us how to use technology.

The Poor Scholar's Soliloquy

The Poor Scholar's Soliloquy

Reading the short essay above really gives perspective on how difficult reaching every student can be in education. However, it also shows that students who have so much incredible potential for being intelligent get passed under the radar because teachers aren't necessarily willing to see different kinds of intelligence, or aren't willing to change their class design based on the needs of other students. This poor student is incredibly smart, but because he is not good at memorizing things he doesn't see a point to teachers just think he isn't good at school, which is absolutely not the case. Teachers need to understand and care for every single one of their students and alter their curriculum so everyone benefits.