Rebecca's Thoughts

I know a lot of people may disagree with this but I love distance learning. I do miss being able to go to campus and living on my own but for learning purposes, online learning hasn't been bad. I feel more apt to go to class because I don't have to gauge time for getting to campus, packing a lunch, dressing for the weather. I've almost gotten to know my professors better online than I had in person. I find myself emailing my professors more often since asking during class isn't that easy. One thing that a professor of mine this semester is doing is a "Life Happens" pass. It can be used once during the semester so that you do not have to take the weekly quiz. As a teacher, I would definitely institute something like this because it not only shows students that you care, but it also just provides a break for students that may be struggling.  Open Educational Resources (OER) are available to teachers and students for free. A website th...

The website design was a very challenging assignment. I had never used Weebly before so it took a while to get the hang of it. After I got used to dragging and dropping the widgets, it was much easier. In the end, I'm very proud of my website . I still don't love using Diigo, but I understand how helpful it can be. I think that on a group annotation assignment, I would enjoy using it and seeing everyone's feedback at once. I also think that as an  individual I could use it to annotate economic journals easier. In a classroom setting though I would teach my students how to use it but not expect it from them.  I don't think that there is one all inclusive website that keeps up to date on technology changes.  Personally, I thought this article from Forbes very interesting. It talks about 5 top tech innovations that may actually disrupt the current classroom standards. As a teacher, it will be very interesting to see how more personalized and im...

None of the schools in my district require teachers to have websites and actually most of the schools themselves do not have websites. As a parent/student I would find it very anxiety inducing to not be able to find teacher information, bell schedules, and things like that. I was able to find one teacher website from a specialty class at my high school. This is an advanced level marine biology class website that is regularly updated with information and helpful reminders. When I took this class I found it very helpful to have all of my study resources in one place. Here I found the current bell schedule, extra resources for the end-of-year testing, covid resources, and contact information.  Technology is going to be an essential part of the education system very soon. As a teacher I plan to keep an up to date website with information for students and parents. I'd like to regularly use an "announcements" feature, similar to the one on Canvas. For teacher pr...

I had no idea what Diigo was or how it could be used. In all honesty I didn't like using it. The website as a whole felt very outdated and clunky to use. I can see where it would be useful for group projects or as a resource but personally I would not use it past this class.  Blogging hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. I think that it would have been easier overall to do a discussion post on canvas so that there aren't multiple submissions. I like being able to see everyone's posts when you to their blog. Outside of this class I don't think that I would be able to maintain a blog because I can never remember to post regularly.  A Web 2.0 tool that I found cool was Audacity . Audacity is a "Free, open source, cross-platform audio software." One way to help students learn new technologies is to give them assignments for things out of their comfort zones. With Audacity, students could make a video or powerpoint  presentation ...

   A paragraph about your early experiences using Twitter. With whom have you been interacting and how have you found it beneficial?  How might Twitter be helpful in your future career? A paragraph about the digital divide.  How does the digital divide affect student success in schools? What are some causes of the digital divide? Reflect on what you may experience as a classroom teacher and how this will affect your teaching strategies. A paragraph about academic software for students. Identify two software tools you would like to implement in your future classroom. Describe the software tools and why you would like to use them with your future students.   My exposure to Twitter has been very limited. I have only used it to participate in EdChats. This has been very beneficial to put me in contact with educators from around the US. The first EdChat was about the implementation of "Patriotic Curriculum." It was interesting to see what teachers from...

The standard I chose wa s LAFS.1112.W.1.2. This states that students should be able to introduce a topic and compile and organize complex and ideas into one cohesive thought. Students should use formatting, graphics, relevant facts and quotes, and concrete details to clearly demonstrate knowledge of the topic. They should also be able to maintain a formal/objective tone, use precise language, use varying syntax, and use metaphors/analogies to further clarify their points. I think that at my current skill level I would be able to implement this. I worked as a tutor for two years of high school helping students develop their writing skills.  CPLAMS offers a wide variety of activities, lesson plans, and student resources. I chose 9-12 social studies as my grade/subject. I thought it was really easy to find information based on standards. Most districts require that all teachers have lesson plans that correlate with the standard that student...