EDLD 5364-Teaching with Technology Week 1 Web Conference

The web conference this week shed some light on lots of the changes that are taking affect with this course.  After watching the video today (Friday), I’m thinking it may not have been a bad thing that I didn’t have access to Blackboard for a few days (thanks to Hurricane Isaac).  Issues were found with the discussion board, so everyone will be receiving credit for Week 1.  We will be in smaller groups for the rest of the weeks to make it easier to follow the discussions.  Professor Borel explained that we are no longer going by ET numbers.  We will be put into groups in each course we take from now on based on whom our IA is.   She shared where we can find tutorials and how to change where our announcements are sent.  She also stressed the importance of the Lamar Google site, because that is where we will find information needed to complete our master’s program.  Week 1 ‘s assignment was reviewed (reflections and group work) and there was a question and answer session at the end. 

EDLD 5366 Week 5 Assignment

Digital Graphics and Web Design Reflection

The first week was spent learning about the four design principles and thinking of things I need to start reviewing (our school’s website,  powerpoints, etc.) to make sure they incorporate contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity effectively.

Next, came self-branding.  According to Dan Schawbel (2009), “Brand discovery is about figuring out what you want to do for the rest of your life, setting goals, writing down a mission, vision, and personal brand statement (what you do and who you serve), as well as creating a development plan.”  Creating a logo that incorporates who you are and what you do, requires a great deal of reflection.  My initial goal for this project was something that would go with what I do at work.  I was planning on something that would show how I help everyone (teachers and students) with their technology.  I ended creating a few logos that I can use for different aspects of my job. The one I choose to turn in is the one that shows I am there for support (which is what I think covers the goal I stated earlier) and how I can be contacted for that support.

Animation was totally new to me and I was a bit worried about if I would actually be able to accomplish this successfully.  Playing with the animation software was so much fun though and I enjoyed this week’s project.

Choosing a group to work with is always a scary situation for me.  I want to make sure I am with people who are willing to work hard and accomplish the task in a professional and timely manner, and I want to make sure I am not disappointing them in my performance in the group.  I am very blessed to have Kristi and Nancy ask if I wanted to work with them again.  Our group was joined by Daniel and LaToya.  The website was started by Kristi and we choose pages to complete.  The group kept in touch through email and everyone did an extraordinary job on their pages.  Narrowing done information and making sure the information I put would be relevant and informative to those viewing it took time.  In my opinion, anyone who views our site will find valuable information.

Although they are getting easier each week with each course I take, reflections are still the hardest part for me.  During our readings I found another article that said, “Reflective teaching means looking at what you do in the classroom, thinking about why you do it, and thinking about if it works,” (Tice, 2011)  It is pretty much the same thing my assistant principal told us at staff development day at the beginning of school.  Now that I am using it more on my personal learning, I need to work more towards using it more on my teaching style now.

Our district does portfolios in pre-kindergarten only.  It would be awesome if we could start with that electronically and have it follow students as their progress through their education.  (This is something I may have to look into once I find time for another project – maybe after I’m done with my action research.) 

Schawbel, D. (2009).  Personal branding 101:  How to discover and create your brand.  Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2009/02/05/personal-branding-101/ 

Tice, J. (June 15, 2011).  Reflective teaching:  Exploring our own classroom practice.  Teaching English.  Retrieved from http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/print/378

How to Implement the use of web sites into a PK-12 Classroom

Our district has two web-based programs that are used by students on a daily basis right now.  There are several others that students use on a regular basis in both the lab and their room (starfall, louisianapass, spellingcity). 

I plan to help with the implementation of other web sites at my school by emailing teachers links to sites that they may find valuable to their classroom as I come across them.  I will share our week four project with the teachers at my school, since it offers a great deal of information.  I am also in the process of making resources available to teachers through our school server, so that they will have a one-stop place to go to get sites, videos, lessons, etc.

EDLE 5366-Website Week 4

My group had to create a website this week that would help teachers (regular and special education) and parents with technology.  There are five sections on the site that were put together by me and my classmates (General Education, Special Education, Parent Corner, How-To and Digital Ethics.  There are some great sites and lots of useful information for those interested.

https://sites.google.com/site/teknowledgeexchange/

EDLD 5366 Animation

Here's my attempt at animation using Stykz.  It's pretty simple to use.  The program just had to be restarted a few times (when it would do something correct), but it would work fine after that.