Reflection #3

Looking over numerous education blogs, websites, etc. I have realized the importance of design and whether something is aesthetically pleasing.  If a parents or student is going to be engaged in my blog it needs to look nice.  Pictures help connect the person to the school and to the classroom, it engages their attention.

Allison brought up a good point in one of her blogs, about an education blog she looked at but it was cluttered and confusing to navigate through.  I noticed on a lot of blogs I wanted to know where to look up specific information, overall, it needs to be user friendly.  Whether it is someone very computer savvy looking at my blog, or the most computer illiterate Grandma trying to find poor Nicky's assignment.  I want to make things clear.  Also, I want it to look nice and modern.  Constantly updating and modifying my blog would be very important.  This may be my only contact with some of the parents, and lots of people will reference it for their school work, either students or parents.  I began realizing, at my school in California there was no way to contact teachers, it was mostly come before or after school if you have questions.  Never gave out phone numbers or email.  At my school in Southern Washington, all the teachers emailed and would accept assignments via email and would answer questions via email.  Now at Northwest, whenever I need to look up an assignment I always go to Discovery, and if I have a question I always email my professor and usually within the day he or she will get back to me with an appropriate response.  So basically, my students will be even more technologically reliant for communication.  It is easier to email a question rather than ask in person in front of the entire class. 

Concluding thoughts to this reflection: My blog needs to look good, be constantly updated, pictures are good, and easy to navigate for all users.

Week #5 Blogs

I looked up Newtown High School Blog and since I am going to teach Secondary English at a high school, I figured looking up a high school blog would be most beneficial more me as a future educator.

Some things I liked about this blog:

• Regular postings (a post once a day or more)
• great innovative design
• Postings about upcoming events
• Posts about random things (such as a picture of the empty swimming pool during the summer)
• Had graphics for every event
• Pictures for every post that were well captured and aesthetically pleasing

I liked all the pictures of students and activities, it made the school real.  It was not some random website about a school, I could visualize how the campus looked, what kind of students made up the school, I made a personal connection looking through the photos. It made it real for me.

They had postings about events happening at school, in the community, or relevant to students or faculty.  They had a post for new teachers they were introducing to the school.  And a post for their talent show.  It was easy to access for each day, and it was constantly being updated.  Information about all events going on at the high school could be located on the blog.  I liked that it was aesthetically pleasing, it was modern, innovative and carefully designed.  The pictures were well placed and thought through.  My old high school, Kelso High School has an atrocious website, big bulky fonts, unrelated graphics, really heavy on hideous yellow and bright blue.  Take a look for yourself, it is just awful, Kelso Website.

I want a blog that is easily accessible for my students, parents, faculty and administration and easy to navigate.  I want a good design that draws people in.  Constantly updating to keep people informed about current events.  Also, vibrant pictures that capture the moment allow for real connection to take place. They can see inside the classroom, see what my class is all about.

Reflection #2

Tonight we had our SMART Board presentations.  I felt unsure about my presentation.  I do not want to bore my students.  I need to find a way to make literature, reading, writing and grammar interesting to disengaged students.  Some possible ideas:
-Interactive Media
-Movie clips
-Documentary clips
-Pictures
Some other ways to engage students is to create fun games, act out a story or chapter from a book, etc.

Some things I need to work on, utilizing full features of SMART Board, making lessons more interactive or "flashy."

How can we as teachers make every student feel included and engaged on the SMART Board?
-Management of the board
-Taking turns
-Changing ativities
-Having flow in the lesson
-Transitioning between slides
-Calling on people to answer questions
-Having each student take notes on everythng during lesson

Features I liked using: Pens and Hi lighters, especially in english class, involves a lot of writing, can clearly hi light portions of the text that are important.

Assignment 2

My lesson is about poetry, how a student can analyze a poem by looking at the following literary elements: subject, theme, emotional impact, form, sound elements, visual elements, imagery and figurative language, and practice analyzing poems, using the above literary elements.

I am incorporating two classic poems from British literature: "Death Be Not Proud" by John Donne and "The Chimney Sweeper" by William Blake.  Students will use a hilighter to point out different literary elements.
I will be using the hilighter feature and the pen feature of the SMART Board in this lesson.

I am following the Grade 10 for Reading State standards
In my lesson we will analyze literature, expand vocabulary, and read a variety of genres, such as poetry from a different era.  We will analyze author’s use of language, style, purpose, and perspective in literary and informational text, especially when analyzing the Blake's poem.

The 2007 Student NETS that will be incorporated in this lesson are:

2. Communication and Collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively
a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.
b. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.

The ways students will interact and collaborate is coming up to the SMART Board and analyzing a poem and dissecting the poem using tools on the SMART Board, such as hilighters and pens. 

The Teacher 2008 NETS that will be incorporated in this lesson are:

2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
a. Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.

The interactive white board is very helpful when analyzing poetry because the text can be seen clearly for all students.  Also, students can hi light portions of the text and write commentary on the actual board about what they are analyzing.  This allows visual learners to see the poem and learn, active learners to write on the board, and we can discuss the poems aloud for the auditory learners.

The original lesson from the SMART Exchange can be found here

Reflection # 1

Today's lesson using the SMART Board reminded me of my senior year in High School taking Mrs. Droke's Physics class.  Everyday she used the SMART Board.  For review we would play jeopardy right before a test and break into teams.  We would break up into small groups of teams, and compete against each team.  She kept track of points, and each question would be a physics question, usually involving math using a type of formula.  We all got so excited to win points to win the game, but we learned the formulas so much easier than just studying them.  Without the SMART Board we would not be able to play jeopardy the same way if it was on some other form of media, it would just be more complicated.  We used the SMART Board in every class session in Physics.  When we would come in and had problems with homework she would work them out on the SMART Board, then email the notes to us, or she would print them out and give it to us to study.  When I was in Foundations of Education and had to observe different classes I ended up going back to her class, and she used the SMART Board in a math class.  The one thing I was amazed at was she had a program on the board that was a graphing calculator on the computer.  She could use the calculator like she would use a regular actual calculator, but this was massive and touch screen.  The class was an AP Calculus class, so if students had problems using the calculator, she would put the SMART Board calculator on the screen and was able to walk the students step by step in a large way that the whole class could follow. 

More and more I realize the younger generations are becoming more and more technologically advanced.  Their attention is media focused, what can grab their attention, captivate it and hold it, long enough to learn a lesson.  It is critical to have these resources in the classroom.  I am going to be an English teacher, when analyzing a poem my students can write on the text on the SMART Board and circle and hilight and analyze the entire poem and I can email it to all my students or print it out for their use.