Final Course Reflection

     Throughout this course I have learned so very many things. Before taking this class, I thought that I did not know much about computers. With the help of so many of my classmates, I realized now that I actually know a good bit. Maybe it is because I am too hard on myself or maybe it is because I really don’t have too many things that actually have many digital aspects to them. Either way, I am much better off now than I was 6 months ago.
            Every assignment we did gave me a little insight into the different ways that I can use technology in my classroom one day. From the very first night with the blog, I have been amazed at the different things possible to do. One of the most impressive things that we have done so far is to make a website.
            I always knew that anyone could make a website, but I never knew exactly how to do it. Having a classroom website is something that would be so very beneficial to so many people. The only downside to that would be for the people who do not have internet access, but realistically speaking almost everyone has some form of internet access. Even if they do not have it in their homes almost all businesses offer free wi-fi.
            Another thing that I learned in this class was about the different assistive technology available. I had no idea that those things were so convenient and easy to use. I knew that there was a way to get your computer in high contrast mode or be able to use a magnifier, but I did not know how to actually do it. Now that I know, the options seem almost endless. This is something that would be a good thing for anyone to know and be able to use, not just students. The assistive technology options would even be good for someone who is older.
            I feel like if I did not have the precise instructions or google available to me then I would have never been able to do any of these assignments. It isn’t that any of them were very difficult, it was more of the fact that I do not know how to navigate my way around a computer period.
            My future goals as far as a teacher and using technology would be to familiarize myself more with all the options available to me. There are so many different resources out there that deal with technology, and I want to be able to use them.
            I plan on using all of these different tools that we learned about in my classroom one day. Everything seems like it would be so very helpful like the test maker, puzzle maker, concept mapping, google groups, and even the movie story. Every single one of these different programs would come in very handy in an elementary classroom.

Assistive Technology Assignment

     I really enjoyed doing this assignment. I had no idea that there were so many options for students with disabilities when it came to using computers. Anyone could use these tools and they are very easy to access. I explored with the contrast settings, magnifier, toggle keys, sound settings, and even mouse settings.
     Children learn differently and using digital tools makes it so much easier to take apart and reconstruct things right in front of their eyes. The accommodations that are available are very surprising. I never knew that so many existed or were even on my computer. Even though I do not need to use any of this right now, I may have to one day and this was a very enlightening assignment. I am very glad that I had the opportunity to do this.
     Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS·S. Specifically, this activity relates to
"Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments. c. Customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources."
I think that this is the standard that it most matches with because it definitely addresses students different learning styles and abilities by using digital tools. The children with vision problems have magnifiers, hearing problems have sound settings, physical problems have keyboard and mouse settings.

Here is a few screenshots from a small powerpoint illustrating the different options available:

This is a screen that looks normal:

This is a screen at high contrast for people who have trouble seeing:



This is an example of a screen with a magnifier. The bottom is normal size and the top is the same screen but magnified:



This is an example of a screen with an on screen keyboard for those who have trouble with the keyboard:



Social, Ethical, and Legal Issues

     Turnitin is an online source that teachers can use to check to see if their students plagarize in a composition or essay. It scans the submitted paper to see if there are any similarities between it and another source. The settings can be changed to be more strict or lenient when scanning the paper.     
     After it has reviewed the entire paper, it gives a percentage of what was plagarized. When I did my plagarized submission, I copy and pasted every single word but it only gave me an 87% plagarism readout. When I submitted the second report that was my own words, I got a 0% plagarism readout. This means that I didn't plagarize anything.
     This would be a very helpful tool to make sure that students are using their own words and ideas when writing.This assignment relates to the NETS-T standards #4 that is about
 "Promoting and Modeling Digital Citizenship and Responsibility. Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethic behavior in their professional practices. Teachers advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology including respect for copyright, individual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources."

This is what it will look like when you submit your paper. It will give a percentage of how much was plagarized. Mine was 87%.

This is what an unplagarized copy looks like. Mine was 0%

Classroom websites

     A classroom website is an excellent way for parents and students to be informed about what is going on in class on a daily basis. The website can be use to post assignment calendars, supply lists, classroom rules and so much more. It is also a good place to have contact information in case a parent or guardian needs to get in touch with the teacher.
     I really enjoyed this assignment and feel like it is something that I will definitely use in my classroom. This will be beneficial to everyone including the teacher, parents, and even the students.
     This relates to the NETS-T standard #3 which says
 "Modeling digital age work and learning. Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society. Teachers collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation." 
 By having a website available for parents as well as other students, teachers display that they know about technology. Technology is something that is becoming very widely used these days because it is very convenient. Teachers do not always get very good responses when they stick to the "notes being sent home" or progress reports that no one knows about. Having something posted on the internet, however, is a permanent record and something that everyone could have access to and be able to view at the same time.



Here is an example of a classroom website that I made.
Click here to see a link to my "pretend" classroom website

Google Groups

GoogleGroups is a site where you can communicate with other people. It is a great way to communicate with other people in your group and to add to things that others may post. We made a story with each person adding another paragraph. It was a really neat thing because even though we were not together doing this, we could still work on it together as long as we had an internet connection.

This assignment was a good description of several NETS-T standards. The first would be
 "Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments-b. Develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress. c. Customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources." By using GoogleGroups, the teacher would be enabling the students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in their own learning. They would have the opportunity to communicate with other students in their class about various topics. I know lots of people who are very shy in person but can "talk" away on a computer. This would give the students a chance to be more open if that was that child's particular situation. 

I really enjoyed this activity and no problems at all while doing it. I liked that I could communicate with the rest of the members of my group and did not even have to be in the same room with them. The information was updated automatically so there was no delay in what someone wrote. I really liked this and will use this in my classroom one day for group projects. 





Here is an example:

     There once was a girl named Shirley Curly. She lived in a big house with her two loving parents who gave her whatever she wanted. Shirley was about eight years old, hair as red as a strawberry, and a few freckles that spread across her cheeks and nose. She was a sweet girl but with a big obsession. She loved lollipops. Over the years she had collected hundreds and hundreds of lollipops of all different flavors.
      Shirley Curly’s favorite flavor of lollipop was green apple. She loved the delicious tart flavor. It was like biting into a real, delicious, juicy, green apple. “As green as your eyes,”e her loving mother would always say, as Shirley Curly unwrapped her green lollipop.
One day, Shirley Curly was feeling a bit blue. She unwrapped the bluest blueberry lollipop she could find.
      When she took a big lick from her blueberry lollipop she got quite a surprise. The blueberry lollipop did not taste like blueberry at all! It tasted like cherry. That is not what it was supposed to taste like! Shirley was very upset about this little situation and the fact that her lollipop was not what she expected so she vowed to never eat another one in her entire life.
       Although Shirley Curly vowed to never eat another blueberry lollipop again she just could not contain herself. As she was walking home from school one day, she came across this mysterious forest that she had never seen before. All of a sudden a fairy popped out from behind the trees and asked her to come take a look inside. She discovered behind the front layer of trees in this forest was a beautiful lollipop dreamland. The dreamland was filled with lollipops. Shirley Curly decided she was going to try everyone of the lollipops in this dreamland. The last lollipop Shirley curly ate was the blueberry lollipop. She wanted to give it one more try. Once she ate the blueberry lollipop she was in heaven. This lollipop was everything she dreamed it would taste like the first time she tried it, but this time it did not taste like cherry. Shirley Curly left the lollipop dreamland very happy and ready to eat blueberry lollipops the rest of her life.



In GoogleGroup you can also make various documents. The assignment was to create a powerpoint presentation. I chose my topic to be the Regions of the United States.

Movie Story

     Creating a digital movie had to be my favorite assignment so far in class. I really liked how I had so many options to make my movie absolutely perfect and to my standards. There were so many more options and tools that could be used in the movie maker than I ever thought possible.
     My movie was about my daughter's life from the day she was born up until now at 2 years old. It was very difficult to keep that down to 2 minutes I had so much that I wanted to share. I am going to blame that on the "mom" in me.
     There are many ways that digital movies can be used in a classroom. The number one way that I think it would best fit would be to make a slideshow of the children from the first day to the last. It could be candid photos, important things that were done in the class, showing off projects, or just anything that was worth taking pictures of. These could be put together by the teacher and given to each child's parent at the end of the year. 
     I learned so much while doing this assignment. I never knew that you could do so much with just a stack of photographs. I will probably do another movie like this again one day so I am glad that I had the opportunity to do it for the first time with some assistance. 
     This sounds like a lot of work, but movie maker made the entire task very easy. The hardest part of the entire process was choosing which pictures to use. After that, it was smooth-sailing. While looking over the NETS-T standards, this particular activity would fall under the topic of 
"Model Digital Age Work and Learning." The actual goal is Communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital age media and formats.
 By doing a video for the children to take as a keepsake, this would show that the teacher is up to date on digital work and learning. It is also something nice for the families to have and be able to look back on. I plan to do this in my classroom one day. 

Here is my movie that I made in class!
Click here to see a video about my daughter Emma Ruth!

Web Tools

     The web tools that we learned about were all very great tools to be familiar with. I actually had a lot of fun creating the different required pages and playing around with the sites to see what I could find. All of the different tools would be very beneficial for an elementary teacher. The tools we used were to make an online rubric, an online quiz, an online worksheet and an online puzzle.
     The rubric could be used in a classroom for activities, projects, and even certain tests. This is something that every teacher should be familiar with using. Making the quiz was actually pretty fun. I liked how it gave you lots of options when it came to formatting the quiz to suit what the teacher is looking for. This will be a handy tool for making quizzes and tests for any grade not just elementary. The worksheet page I had fun with. There were so many different options and already made templates to choose from. It made it very easy to find the one I needed. This would be a very valuable tool in any grade as well. My personal favorite was the puzzle maker site. I love doing puzzles and have always used them when studying or trying to learn a new concept. This tool would be very valuable, especially for elementary, because children need something to look at. They need something physical to show them the concept. By making the information into a puzzle that is fun, the child will more than likely retain the information better.
      I really didn't encounter any problems when I was doing this assignment, which surprised me. I thought that I would get so very lost when trying to make all the different worksheets and tests, but I never did. That in itself should show a lot.
     While referring to the NETS-T standards, the goal that I thought was most appropriate for this activity falls under the topic
 "Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments." The actual goal is Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.
 The internet is the best possible resource for a teacher and using the web tools that are available would be nothing short of beneficial to the students. 

Here is my test for Science Fair Experiments. See how you do!
Click here to take a test on Science Fair Experiments

Here is a rubric for my Science Fair Experiment project. What do you think?
Click here to see my rubric