Umm... Something about Bacon Egg and Cheese Biscuit

     Making a website was pretty fun, its nice to make something that is actually usable by others. Weebly is also really easy to use, so its almost impossible to make a website that looks objectively bad unless you're trying to. A good teacher website can also be extremely convenient for future students, as it gives them a centralized location to look for information they need. Overall this has been an excellent experience, which I may use sometime in my future.

Here's a link to my website

    Diigo is pretty darn useful, being able to save notes, citations and even just websites in a single area is an excellent tool. It's connection to others is also another great angle you could lean on for stuff like group projects. In fact, you could use it in conjunction with a website to store and publish annotations on scholarly articles for any future student to read with 0 hassle. It could be useful for a good history department as well, as it allows you to share any good resources you find with the rest of your peers almost instantly. 

    As for a website to help stay ahead of the curve in terms of technological changes, nothing is better than twitter. The young people are always active, and the trending system makes sure that cool stuff gets shown to you on a regular basis. There are plenty of technology-related users who post about cool new tech stuff as well, so you can rely on a few of those to keep you informed. Overall, its a good place to keep on top of trends. An excellent example of a good place to stay ahead on education-related technology is the official Harvard School of Education twitter account. They make near daily posts highlighting education-related articles, a lot of which include talks about technology.

Here's a link

Uhh... Something about the DOW Jones

     Now, none of my classes required teachers to keep class pages, but the teachers at Waterloo are. Publicly, most only show a few pictures, basic contact info and a calendar, but some include a bit more details. A few teachers decided to put descriptions of themselves and the class, others decided to put events or important memos for their students on their page. The one who put the most is the band director, who included clips of the marching band, as well as some of the bands' social media. Below is a screenshot of the band's page, as well as a link. 

    Link

    Technology is quite useful for a lot of different things in the classroom. One great way to use technology is as a database for all of my assignments and lectures, so any student who misses class doesn't miss much. It can also be a great way of reminding kids remotely, or at the very least, keeping a public record of when things get turned in so parents know when to remind their kids. Creating a website using Educator Pages seems like the best way to do this.

    PB works was a bit of a mixed bag for me. The fact that you couldn't edit a page in tandem with others, as well as the lack of formatting abilities makes it a bit of a hassle for group work. The website isn't completely without quality of life however, as the sidebar and the ability to link back to different pages within a page is pretty useful. As for using it with kids, I would most likely use it as a group resource for certain information, or as a way for the students to create a a group project.

Umm... Something About the Geneva Convention

     Diigo seems nice, but I can't say I find it very useful. Being able save websites to a central groups seems very useful, but when looking at a class that is, for example, searching for sources, I would prefer the students search for and evaluate their own sources instead of deferring to the group for assistance. It could be useful for a group project as a way to centralize sources, or just for general information sharing, but past that I can't say I would use it myself. I also don't like having to keep that extension around, its not super intrusive but I'm not really used to it yet.

    Blogging is certainly interesting. At the very least, I know I am bad at creating blog titles, since I keep deferring to my friends for the titles. It's not been as bad as I originally thought though, I usually just imagine that I'm just posting this as an essay and it makes it a bit easier to write. It is nice, however to share my thoughts about various things to others, although I would not be doing this outside the class.

    In terms of Web 2.0 tools, one which I may use when I go teaching is YouTube. I still remember some of my old YouTube class projects, and those were a ton of fun to make. YouTube is one of the easiest video sharing websites around and can be an excellent creative outlet for students in any classroom. Overall I give it an 8/10, great versatility for the classroom, although a bit difficult to use for constant assignments.

Umm... Something About a Creative Blog Title

     Honestly, I never liked Twitter. I had an account a few years ago, but deleted it at some point so I lost all the info. Its been good to get back into it though, I've reconnected with a couple old friends through there and have made some new ones along the way. Twitter is great for reaching out to others, asking for their experience or their resources so it could be great for a future career.

    The digital divide is problem which is affecting tons of students around the US. It involves the differences between a students ability to access technology. Although technology is almost everywhere, it doesn't mean that everyone can afford it, newer technology is still expensive and less affluent students may have difficulty accessing technology that more affluent students take for granted. Depending on where I may work in the future, the divide may be greater or smaller, but will most likely always be present. To work around it, I must ensure that all the assignments I give can be completed regardless of a student's individual access to technology, as well as ensure I provide ample opportunity to use technology in class, with the school's resources.

   As for two pieces of software I would use, one would definitely be Microsoft Office. Using Office and other word processers is vital for anyone, regardless of their future, and starting those skills early is bound to be beneficial. Canva was also an extremely useful tool for creating visual aids for presentations or just infographics in general. Getting kids to use that would help greatly for any presentations.

    I've never really gotten a "badge" before and I've never really thought about them. I think they could be an excellent way of giving students some sort of recognition for their online skills, or as a reward for their efforts. Personally, I don't share much on social media so I would most likely not share any badge I get. 

Umm... Something about Volkswagen German Engineering; BeamerW

     As a teacher I do feel ready to implement the 11-12th grade technology standards. Most of the technologies listed are pretty simple, stuff like word and Excel, and all the stuff that isn't is relatively self-explanatory. The most difficult one to implement might be LAFS.1112.W.2.6 which requires the use of the internet to publish writing products and provide active feedback. Although it says word can just be used for this, it feels a bit inadequate to the standard. Using Skype could prove challenging, as it would require the students to have some level of access at home.

    For History resources, there is basically an entire US history course worth of short lectures with slides to go along with it. They're all a bit short, but pretty informative overall. They could be perfect for an in-class presentation, or for a study resource before exams. They could also be used for students who miss class and need to catch up, as a sort of half replacement for a normal lecture.

    Good internet searching is important. The google algorithm is pretty smart nowadays, but expediency is key when trying to find information and you want to be sure that the information you show is accurate. When looking something up its good to be careful of synonyms, words have double meanings sometimes and you could get results that are useless. Its also important to be as accurate as possible in the shortest amount of words, google has a pretty good system and will probably understand what you're trying to search without 90% of the sentence.

"Cool Bento Box" by glindsay65 is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

Umm... Why V8 is Faster than V6

     Copyright is the system exploited by Disney to creatively bankrupt the US. Before that, it was a way for US inventors, artists and other creators to protect their creative and scientific works from copying. Conversely, fair use includes works of art and other creations which have either had their copyright expire, or have been purposefully put into fair use for the common good. Works which are "fair use" can be used and displayed without any consequence.

    With technology comes the problems which technology brings, such as academic dishonesty and lack of funding. The wonders of the modern world have made it easier than ever for students to be dishonest in an academic way. Programs like Turn it In can help sort through essays and written assignments to ensure they weren't plagiarized. Lack of funding can prevent students from being able to fully participate in any technology-related activities. To help solve that, I could plan lower-tech alternatives to any assignments I create so that everyone can participate.

    

    Above is a screenshot of my newsletter. To create this, I required mastery of the column tool, as well as the online program "Canva". Formatting and text size changes also made the Newsletter look more proper. If I had to make one improvement, it would be the addition of more color.

Umm... Why We Should Bring Back Breakfast

    As a student in the 21st Century, I am a (self-determined) wizard of MS Word. I've used it all my life, it's what all my essays are in, and I find it's much more convenient then google docs. After using it so long, It's actually pretty difficult to use other word processers, as I'm so used to the controls that its hard to find where the different buttons are on other programs. In fact, all of these blog posts from now on are going to be written in word and copied over to here (not that it actually matters).

    The ISTE Standard which most speaks to me is the "Facilitator". With how tech-heavy my life has been, I can only imagine it getting more tech reliant as it goes on. This is why its important for newer students to be tech-savvy, it's such a large part of our lives and learning to live with it as early as possible is sure to be beneficial. Computers are also awesome, so I am a bit biased towards infecting younger students with computer information.

    I think the label of "digital native" is completely accurate. Not many know this, but I currently work for Eckerd College doing computer work that no one there wants to do. Stuff as simple as creating a seating chart gets passed down from PhD. Professors to me, making them for about $10 a pop. For me, whipping up a seating chart in MS Paint is second nature, but for these people that are more educated and better paid than I ever will be, it might as well be witchcraft. It's all part of the differences between being "native" to tech or being an "immigrant" to tech. As someone who grew up with this stuff, its easy for me to do, but for people who are otherwise extremely intelligent, they find themselves unable, as they don't have the same experience I do.