Journal #7-Professional Learning Network

       The affinity group that I joined a few weeks ago was The Educator’s PLN, which has been a great websites with an abundance of information about the educational field.  The other tool that I continue to use for my classes is the Digg RSS stream. I am in the process of developing the lesson plans for my classes and this site has given me ideas from classroom management to creating lesson plans. It can be time consuming  trying to go through  several articles and sites, but it has been very helpful. I am still working on deciding how to use Twitter in my classes; one possibility is maintaining the parents inform of any class projects or school events. The students in my class are engaged whenever I use the Smart Notebook in the classroom. I download class assignments on the Smart Notebook, and students come up to the board and solve the problems.  This class has provided me with valuable resources and tools that I can use in my classroom. I have shared some of the things that I have learned in this class with other teachers.

Journal #6-Self Reflection

     Over the last few weeks, I have been impressed at how much I have learned about html and css. At the beginning of the quarter, everything that I heard during class instruction and the readings seemed like a foreign language. At times, I have felt frustrated while trying to complete certain book exercises, such as linking pages. I have noticed that I tend to make careless mistakes, and that makes a huge difference on the outcome. I think that will is one of the areas that I need to work on is making sure that I have everything in the correct place. One example, was when I had to input the link on the port template for the css layout, I forgot a less than sign which resulted in a broken link. Another area which I have found to be the hardest yet the most rewarding is doing css. There are so many codes and rules to remember to get the desired format and layout of a web page. 

http://www.csupomona.edu/~marthad/512_2014/labs/css%20index.html

     I hope that after doing a few more book exercises and labs, I will begin to feel more comfortable using css. It will take a lot of practice to get familiar with knowing what to input to get the desired web page.

Journal #5: Try Twitter

I began using Twitter this year, and have found it useful in my personal and professional environment. After looking at the video and reading the PowerPoint, I realized that there are so many different ways that Twitter can be used in the classroom.  At my daughter’s school, Twitter is being used and I find it helpful because it keeps me updated on upcoming events. Sometimes I do not receive the paper flyers of school events, so it is nice to get the news in a timely manner. Twitter is a great for students to share information and resources. Students who may be afraid to talk in class, may feel more comfortable sharing ideas online. Another interesting idea was doing a Wordle through Twitter, in which students share with their peers any synonyms or antonyms that would make their writing more descriptive. In class, students are continuously encourage to provide detail in their writing, so if students are able to use this kind of tool they will be more engaged in the assignment. Also, having students communicate with experts is another great idea that would motivate students to learn more about a certain topic. 

Q.How can teachers control what students do on Twitter in the class?

Teachers would have to set the expectations before students use Twitter in the class. I think that it would be difficult to know if students are on Twitter when they are suppose to be.

Q.What are some ways that teachers can use Twitter in the classroom?

One of the ways that Twitter can be used in the classroom is to graph opinions and collect information. At the middle school that I work at, students participated in a mock election that was done by paper and pencil. I think it would have been more effective if the students would have voted using Twitter.

Journal #4: Project Plan

Site Title: Ms. Delgado’s Math Center

Developer: Martha Delgado

Focus: The site will have homework, class notes, samples, and resources that focus on middle school math. The goal of the site is to provide sources that will help students understand math concepts reviewed during class instruction.

Main Features: There will be a total of four submenu pages which are the following: homework, class notes, samples, and resources.

Content: Each submenu page will contain the math homework and class notes for the week.

Target Audience: middle school students

Design Considerations: Maintain site friendly-user for young teens to navigate with ease.

Limiting Factors: At this point, a limiting factor would be to input short videos that show how to solve math problems.

Journal #3: Social Media in Schools

Journal #3: Social Media in Schools

Kessler, S. (2010, September 29). The Case for Social Media in Schools. Retrieved October 18, 2014, from http://mashable.com/2010/09/29/social-media-in-school/

The social media will be around for a long time. According to the article “The Case For Social Media in Schools” by Sarah Kessler, more than seventy-five percent of the students have some kind of social media profile.  This survey was done more than four years ago, so the numbers most likely have increased since then. Students will learn when they are engaged and incorporating technology into the classroom is the key to maintaining students’ engaged on the lessons being taught. For example, they discussed that students were motivated to blog and share their thoughts with other peers.  Teachers should take advantage of the free tools online that can be managed to avoid any potential harm to the students. Students spend a good amount of time on the Internet so might as well have assignments posted online. 

In what ways will integrating technology impact the students?

The students will be prepared for the 21-century if they are given the skills about using technology in the academic setting. Social media will not be going away, might as well embrace it and find ways to make it part of the school curriculum.  

How can teachers effectively integrate technology into the classroom?

A good example that the article gave was using blogs where students can view assignments and share their ideas with their peers.  Also, using the cell phones would be a good idea to use, but only if the teachers knew a way to control what they viewed on their phones using the school network.

Journal #2: Affinity Group & Digg RSS Stream

The affinity group that I decided to join was the The Educator’s PLN, (link: http://edupln.ning.com/), which seems to have recent activity. The reason why I chose this group was because it seems to have an abundance of resources for teachers. It seems to be a friendly user site; there is a tutorial that shows you how to navigate the site. Also, there are several educational videos which can be useful for teachers. Under Web 2.0 apps it contains a list of apps that can be beneficial for educators. I hope to find useful information that I can use in my classroom with my students.

I find the Digg RSS stream to be another useful tool that brings so much information from different sources. I like the feature that allows the navigator to choose topics of their interest and it displays sources from the most recent to the oldest. I added a few of the interests groups which were Educational Technology and SMART Board Integration. At the school where I work many of the teachers use Smart Boards, so having all these sources that talk about things that can be done on these devices was convenient.

Question #1: Can you narrow done your search on Digg RSS stream?

I was trying to narrow done my options for the Smart Board, but it does not allow me to do it. The sources that were under SMART Board Integration have a wide range of topics. I think it would be nice to have a feature with an advance search. For example, maybe you don’t want information that is more than a year old; the advance search button would allow you to narrow down your options.

Question#2: Is this an effective site for an educator in middle school?

Once again it is useful to some extent, but yet it is time consuming trying to go through the sources. It provides a lot of sites and articles that sometimes it’s hard to choose from. If it had an advance search button where you can type in the key words, it would be much more efficient. At times, it can be overwhelming when there are many sources generated from one interests group.

Chapters 1-3

In chapter one of the online textbook, Learning Web Design: A Beginner's Guide to HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Web Graphics by Jennifer Robbins, it describes the different roles and responsibilities of a web designer.  The web designer can perform multiple roles such as preparing the content for the web, appearance, behavior and function of the site.  A few of the languages that are important to know for someone who is beginning in this field are Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and Javascript. HTML describes the different parts of a document on the web. Cascading Style Sheets describes how the pages of the web will look, such as font, color, and background. JavaScript is used to control the interaction and behavior of the pages on the web. Something interesting about this chapter was learning that Windows can run on Mac; this is done to check if the web page functions.

On chapter two, it gives a brief description about the World Wide Web and identifies some vocabulary words. A link is provided if the reader would like to learn more about the history of the World Wide Web. Two of the terms that were new to me were intranets and extranets. Intranets are special web-based networks that do not allow individuals from the outside view the pages. Extranet is when a selected individual from the outside is given permission to view the pages of the secured web-based network.

Chapter three provided some of the big concepts that an individual needs to know about web design.  One of the main ideas was the challenge of developing a design for the different screen sizes. Today, more and more people are using their mobile devices to access the web.  Web designers must think about the layout of the web and how it would display on certain devices. When creating these pages the individual must follow some strict guidelines and make sure that the content is accessible to all viewers.  This chapter provides useful web links, articles, and books for further reading on addressing the mobile web.