Blog Post 4

Advantages of Integrating Technology

Integrating technology has become one of the most used strategies in school systems. Technology is one of the most influential aspects of society whether that be for the best or the worst. The authors of Integrating Technology into Teaching say, "Although the current emphasis in mathematics instruction is on higher order mathematical skills, students often need more resources to support the practice of basic skills." These technologies such as Math XL help students understand math so much more than teachers, parents, and students ever thought possible.

Disadvantages of Technologies

Though having technology in the classroom has many positive aspects there are some things about technology that can have a negative effect on students. One example would be not always being able to monitor what they are doing on their device, especially if the students in your class are involved in BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). It's nice that they would be responsible for their own device, but there is always a possibility that they could be looking at other things. One online resource you can use is Haiku Deck during instruction time. This is a presentation creator that will keep student continuously engaged.

Specific Activities, Program, Etc.

There are several resources that might be useful to use in the classroom when discussing mathematics. A great tool that is being used in the classroom is robotics. "Robotics curriculum has become an increasingly popular strategy for engaging students in problem solving and getting them interested in engineering principles and careers." (Roblyer. 2016.) Students love being hand-on and actually investigating things not just sitting and listening to us talk. They want to be involved in the learning process and this does exactly that; it helps students teach themselves.

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Materials Generators

I feel that Google Drive will be very beneficial for students and teachers to generate and create their own material. Though it would be so much easier it plug in the things that you need in your specific materials.

http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/pro_port/

Teach-nology gives a plethora of great material generators and the best part about it is its free! This website contains different links that will help you OR your students create whatever they need efficiently. :) 

Testing & Grading Tools

Google forms is a fantastic way to create tests for students to take online. For one, the teacher gets the results back quickly through email. Reason number two is that you are SAVING PAPER! We teachers go through so many trees in our career. I'm positive the tree chopping business alive.

Survey Monkey is a fabulous way to get feedback as an informal assessment from your students. Another way you can use it is to get feedback from the parents on how well the students are taking in the information given during class.

Graphics Tools

The Google Add-on that I chose is Lucidchart. It allows you to make floor plans,venn diagrams, and other helpful charts. You will be able to use that when making a seating chart in the classroom or creating a graphic organizer. 

Pikochart is a great place to make infographics. Infographics contain information while displaying colorful imagery that pertains to the subject you are trying to describe. This can be used as an graphic organizer for students while you are teaching or even as a powerpoint replacement. This grabs the attention of the students in your classroom and allows them to be more engaged in conversation. You could also ask the students to create their own infographic as a project.

Planning and Organizing Tools

Google Sheets is very similar to the Microsoft software Excel, the only difference is it is a lot easier to maintain due to it being online. It will constantly be saving your work throughout the process of creating your document. It will be very beneficial to creating a grades chart or a class role/attendance sheet.  

Smartsheet is another great tool to use for organization in the classroom. Some really great ways to use this website would be for your lesson plans, to keep up with meetings with parents and faculty, and any kind of testing or school functions.

Research & Reference Tools

The Google- Add-on that I chose is Easy-Bib Bibliography creator. Using this in and out of the classroom will be very beneficial to the students when writing a research paper or bibliography. It is always required of the student to have resources and the students must make sure that they are cited. Introducing that is difficult so have this resource right at the touch of a button is very helpful and gives the student a certain insight on how things should be cited.

Citavi is another great way for students to cite their resources. You can do several things on this website such as; search resources worldwide, manage references, analyze and highlight texts, save ideas and structure your work, plan tasks – on your own or in a team, and write the perfect paper, report, article, or book.

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Search Engines 

Technology has become a huge aspect of teaching and learning with this generation of students. It is inevitable that you will use search engines in your lessons. There are certain rules that you should keep in mind when you give your students time for technology. Most importantly you, as the teacher, should instruct the students to be specific when finding information on a search engine. "Type in a combination of keywords that could be found in the URLs of the sites or documents you want."(Roblyer) This instruction should help the students be more direct and efficient in their educational searches.

Website Evaluation

This video will be helpful in the classroom when you are articulating to the students how they should find resources and websites. A good time to use this in a lesson would be when you are assigning a project of some kind.

Favorite Professional Websites

When deciding what websites to use in your lesson there are certain criteria that these websites must meet. Having this criteria set in place will help you give the students a more fulfilling educational lesson and keep them completely engaged. The two website links listed below are very helpful and educational websites. They can be used in the classroom to help motivate and engage students. The websites could also be used in professional development for teachers. They both meet several of the standards from the Website Evaluation Criteria Checklist in the textbook Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching those being; 1) all information is the most current and up-to-date available, 2) the site is complete, and 3) content was free of bias.(Roblyer) Those are just a few of the needs met in these websites.

https://www.edutopia.org
https://wonderville.org

Online Safety and Security

Cyberbullying happens so frequently in our culture and it is beginning to happen at younger ages. "Cyberbullying is the practice of using technology to harass, threaten, embarrass, or target another person." (Roblyer)Part of the dynamic you should setup in your classroom is a safe zone. Since this is a very technological age and you never know what your students are doing when they leave the classroom, from the beginning of the year create a community. When you develop this community in your classroom, it is less likely to have cyberbullying happen in your class.

Works Cited:
Roblyer, M. D. (2016). Integrating educational technology into teaching. Boston: Pearson.

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Word Processing Software

One way I would use word processing software in the classroom is to make newsletters each week for my students and parents. This news letter will be meant to notify parents of activities, projects, and tests during the week. This will also help the students be accountable for turning in their own work and making time to study for tests. These will newsletters will be delivered by email and by paper to avoid students not delivering it to the parents. "Word processing also helps teachers use preparation time effectively.." Roblyer, M. D., & Edwards, J. (2000). Integrating educational technology into teaching. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.
This could become an issue if the parents are illiterate, non-English speakers, or give false information. For the non-English speakers, you could plug your letter into google translate and send that home with the student.

Spreadsheet Software

Spreadsheet software can be used as a mathematics activity in the classroom, especially if you are teaching your students about percentages and pie charts and graphs. "Spreadsheets helps users manage helps numbers in the same way that word processing helps them manage." Roblyer, M. D., & Edwards, J. (2000). Integrating educational technology into teaching. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill. Quite like an activity we completed in our technology class, I would give the students a bag of M&Ms and ask them to create a graph on Excel. Of course, before giving them the M&Ms, I will instruct them on how to use Excel and how to effectively create a chart.
One way this could be an issue is not giving step by step instruction to use Excel. This could be overwhelming to the students if they are not given the effective instruction.

Presentation Software

I can use presentation software in the form of Slides in Google Drive. This will be an effective way to bring technology into the classroom and to also allow the students to access any lessons at home that they learned in the classroom.


Classroom Use--

More than anything I will use Word Processing software in the classroom as a tool and "it allows materials to be shared easily."Roblyer, M. D., & Edwards, J. (2000). Integrating educational technology into teaching. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill. I will encourage the students to use Google Drive for all online/digital assignments. They will share their documents to my school email so that I know where they are in their work each day and how much they accomplish.

Weide You Wanna Learn?!

Hey Everyone!!

My name is Emileigh Weide, I am a student at the University of Montevallo and my major is Collaborative Elementary Education(K-6). Being an educator has always been my dream career and it is so much more than just teaching, it is changing lives and showing children that no matter their learning style, disability, or life situation you can still learn and you are still cared for.
I was inspired by my 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Marcy Kelley. When I moved schools for the first time she made time to catch me up to the rest of the class, even if that meant staying after school with me. My goal is to be a teach similar to Mrs. Kelley and to inspire students to do more and be more.

I'm so ready for my journey in education to begin!
Emileigh Weide