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.

Martha Delgado- About me

Hello everyone! My name is Martha Delgado and I am a middle school special education teacher. I went to Cal Poly Pomona for my B.A. in Liberal Studies and I just recently received my multiple and special education credential. Besides working as a teacher, I am a soldier in the Army National Guard. Also, I am a busy parent of an eight year-old daughter, whom I enjoy going ice skating with on the weekends, whenever I don't have training for the military. Other outdoor activities I enjoy doing with my family are bike riding and hiking.
As far as my experience with technology, I know how to navigate through the internet like doing research online. I know the basics of Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powepoint, but that is pretty much it. So far, some of the classes I have taken for this program I have not encountered any frustations with technology.  At the school that I am working at I am learning on my own on how to use the Smart Board, which at times can be frustating when I am unable to do something.
I decided to pursue a Masters of Educational Multimedia because I would like to learn more about how to incorporate technology into the classroom. I found it fascinating when I read that the program offered a course that teaches about web design. Eventually, it would be neat to create my teacher website where I can post resources that I can share with other teachers. Also, it would be nice to have a web site where I can make resources available to students from their home if they are absent or need additional review in a certain area. I am really excited to be in this Educational Web Development course and hope to apply the skills that I learn in my classroom.