Learner
Educators continually improve their practice by learning from and with others and exploring proven and promising practices that leverage technology to improve student learning. I have several learning goals that I am currently pursuing; I am currently working toward my PhD in Career and Technical Education, I am actively teaching to secondary and post-secondary students to better prepare me for long term achievement, and I am working toward my ESOL certification to better serve my student population.
Leader
Educators seek out opportunities for leadership to support student empowerment and success and to improve teaching and learning. Technology is the focus of my classroom and I am leading the way in sharing with other educators the use of technology in their respective classroom. The following slideshow is an example of the material I share with my colleagues.
Citizen
Educators inspire students to positively contribute to and responsibly participate in the digital world. Digital learning communities are a great way to learn and share information with individuals and groups whom share the same passion for a common subject matter.
The first is The Criminal Justice Cell - eLearning for CJ Professionals. "The Criminal Justice Cell is a personal learning network (PLN, a site that will encourage discussion and collaboration concerning the topic of criminal justice(CJ); specifically research, practical implementation and education. It is recognized that this is a rather broad subject, so in order to facilitate organization and participation the broader topic of criminal justice will be divided into specific areas of interest. These areas of interest would include, but certainly not limited to issues such as victim studies/issues, problem solving courts, restorative justice, corrections, investigations, special populations, environmental criminology and so on. The intent is to create a safe and welcoming environment that would encourage and nurture the collaboration of criminal justice professionals, academics as well as students."
The second DLC that I find useful is the Southern Criminal Justice Association. "The Southern Criminal Justice Association is a regional organization affiliated with the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. SCJA is a professional association serving criminal justice educators, researchers, practitioners, and students committed to the ongoing development of criminal justice science and practice. Member states include Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands."
The third DLC I find useful is We The Teachers. We The Teachers has great resources, lesson plans, discussions and much more information that is useful to all teachers. This site allows you to gather information and collaborate with teachers from all over the world.
Teacher Tube is another great site. "Teacher Tube's goal is to provide an online community for sharing instructional videos. We seek to fill a need for a more educationally focused, safe venue for teachers, schools, and home learners. It is a site to provide anytime, anywhere professional development with teachers teaching teachers. As well, it is a site where teachers can post videos designed for students to view in order to learn a concept or skill."
TeachAde is a great social networking site. TeachAde.com is unique because it is one of only a few websites dedicated to supporting classroom teachers, while remaining completely free and easy to use. Members are able to interact and contribute by uploading and sharing a variety of files, including multimedia files and complete lesson plans, for others to download and enjoy. These files can then be distributed to the registered users of TeachAde based upon individual users profiles. This complex back-end system tied to an easy to use "my workspace" page allows for one member, such as a talented fifth grade math teacher in Ohio, to connect to others with whom they can share information or collaborate on current needs, such as a new fifth grade math teacher in California.
I have joined the Southern Criminal Justice Association because of the available research. The Southern Criminal Justice Association represents the area that I live and work in with research conducted in my community. The only drawback for this DLC is the small fee associated with joining. However, as a criminal justice professional the information is well worth the fee.
The first is The Criminal Justice Cell - eLearning for CJ Professionals. "The Criminal Justice Cell is a personal learning network (PLN, a site that will encourage discussion and collaboration concerning the topic of criminal justice(CJ); specifically research, practical implementation and education. It is recognized that this is a rather broad subject, so in order to facilitate organization and participation the broader topic of criminal justice will be divided into specific areas of interest. These areas of interest would include, but certainly not limited to issues such as victim studies/issues, problem solving courts, restorative justice, corrections, investigations, special populations, environmental criminology and so on. The intent is to create a safe and welcoming environment that would encourage and nurture the collaboration of criminal justice professionals, academics as well as students."
The second DLC that I find useful is the Southern Criminal Justice Association. "The Southern Criminal Justice Association is a regional organization affiliated with the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. SCJA is a professional association serving criminal justice educators, researchers, practitioners, and students committed to the ongoing development of criminal justice science and practice. Member states include Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands."
The third DLC I find useful is We The Teachers. We The Teachers has great resources, lesson plans, discussions and much more information that is useful to all teachers. This site allows you to gather information and collaborate with teachers from all over the world.
Teacher Tube is another great site. "Teacher Tube's goal is to provide an online community for sharing instructional videos. We seek to fill a need for a more educationally focused, safe venue for teachers, schools, and home learners. It is a site to provide anytime, anywhere professional development with teachers teaching teachers. As well, it is a site where teachers can post videos designed for students to view in order to learn a concept or skill."
TeachAde is a great social networking site. TeachAde.com is unique because it is one of only a few websites dedicated to supporting classroom teachers, while remaining completely free and easy to use. Members are able to interact and contribute by uploading and sharing a variety of files, including multimedia files and complete lesson plans, for others to download and enjoy. These files can then be distributed to the registered users of TeachAde based upon individual users profiles. This complex back-end system tied to an easy to use "my workspace" page allows for one member, such as a talented fifth grade math teacher in Ohio, to connect to others with whom they can share information or collaborate on current needs, such as a new fifth grade math teacher in California.
I have joined the Southern Criminal Justice Association because of the available research. The Southern Criminal Justice Association represents the area that I live and work in with research conducted in my community. The only drawback for this DLC is the small fee associated with joining. However, as a criminal justice professional the information is well worth the fee.
Collaborator
Discussion forums are a valuable part of the online classroom. This allows students to share ideas and collaborate on new subjects. Interaction with other students has always been a valuable part of any classroom, virtual classrooms are no different. As a teaching tool, discussion forums allow the teacher to gauge class understanding on a subject, monitor which students are conducting research, and find the students that need more assistance on an issue. Many students learn from their peers. The use of a discussion board allows a student to explain to their classmates in a different way than the teacher. I like the idea of using a discussion forum as a flipped classroom. A flipped classroom is where students learn the material before the lesson has been taught.
Teachers have to be vigilant when using discussion forums. Teachers must monitor student netiquette and students that don't understand the material. If we fail to watch for those who are not providing scholarly feedback or discussion, we may miss a student that does not understand the topic. For safety, teachers should always monitor post and require students to sign-in before being able to comment.
Today, I viewed the video "Connected, but alone?" by Sherry Turkle. After viewing the video I was asked these three questions:
- How have your individual communication skills changed with the innovations in technology?
- How have advancements in technology altered classroom communication?
- Will these change further?
The first question I had to answer yes. I think that communication and technology can be a great thing together as long as it is controlled. I spend a large portion of the day sending and receiving emails, texting busy loved ones, and attending classes online. LMS has given me wonderful opportunities that I would not have had otherwise.
The second question I also had to answer yes. I currently teach in a face-to-face setting, and yet many assignments are done on the computer. I am can make corrections to student work, give class announcements, and monitor student progress in real time. This form of classroom and communication also allows me to keep parents in the loop at all times.
The third question, I also said yes. Communication and technology will continue to grow. In the past few years we have started reviewing with games like Kahoot.it, and reminding students of events and test through Remind101. I can only imagine what the future holds.
Designer
This lesson was designed to encourage the user to find instructional websites and then critique the graphic design elements of the website. The following is a list of instructional websites that I focused on:
The list, I have provided above has described a number of instructional websites with some being much better than others.
- SoftSchools.com is a for math and writing worksheets leveled by grade and activity, and this site allows the teacher to design their own materials. I found this site to be overwhelming with information. While it is a valuable resource the information on the main page was too much for the consumer.
- Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to your own desktop to use as you wish. The website was straight forward and easy to use. The minimal graphic design keep it clean and easy to navigate.
- Filefolderfun is a great instructional website that allows material to be gathered and distributed through a user friendly folder service. The graphic design of the website will keep most from ever finding what is available for the user. The website is littered with adds that I find distracting.
- Funology is a website that focuses on crafts, games, recipes and science. This is a well designed site that is easy to navigate. This site is perfect for anyone looking to incorporate more STEM activities in their program.
- Innerbody is a great anatomy site that can be useful in a variety of subjects that deal with the human body. This is a well designed site that is a great resource.
- National Library of Virtual Manipulative is a site designed for all ages to learn various math skills through fun games. The real tragedy of this website is the poor design. The games and information are great, but at first look one would be tempted to move on to another site.
- Literactive is a good website with resources to promote literacy. The design of the website is overwhelming when you open the page. There is far too much information for a homepage.
- The Teacher's Guide is a well designed website with a variety of subjects, easy to implement lessons, and user friendly controls. This website is appealing to the eye and a fantastic resource.
- Learn360 is the ultimate streaming multimedia resource for the K–12 educational market the complete district solution. Teachers, students, and parents can access more than 148,000 multimedia resources—including high-quality full-length videos, video clips, images, audio files, articles, activities, worksheets, interactives, and more on any Internet-enabled device, anytime, anywhere. Its enhanced, state-of-the-art platform, featuring the content, navigation, educator tools, speed, and performance that today’s online experience demands, makes Learn360 a powerful tool for flipped classrooms, blended instruction, project-based learning, and 1:1 environments. This website has a great design and is easy to use.
- Oneswitch is a gaming website that focuses on games that teach. The website does the same as many other sites, but this site is not as graphicly appealing. There is no white space and what colors are on the page are too bright.
The list, I have provided above has described a number of instructional websites with some being much better than others.
Facilitator
The first best practice is always establishing clear and open communication with all stakeholders. This will keep all invested parties in the loop. This will help when issues such as plagiarism. This will ensure that all parties are aware of the issues and kept informed with academic dishonesty.
The second best practice when dealing with a student that has anxiety issues is creating a plan on how to deal with the course related task. It helps to think of the old question, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." Break material down for small goals for this students.
The third best practice is being supportive. It is important to be supportive to all students, however it can be more important to establish a positive relationship with students that anxiety and depression.
The second best practice when dealing with a student that has anxiety issues is creating a plan on how to deal with the course related task. It helps to think of the old question, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." Break material down for small goals for this students.
The third best practice is being supportive. It is important to be supportive to all students, however it can be more important to establish a positive relationship with students that anxiety and depression.
Analyst
For a differentiated assessment I used to explore using a web tool as a differentiation of student assessment. I chose to use Piktochart. For the assessment students would follow these directions.
- Go to Piktochart and create a new infographic poster.
- Your infographic poster should contain information about the current prison population in the U.S.
- The student will create a poster that explains who is sentenced to prison, where the closest prison is to their location and how many prisoners are confined in the U.S.
- The poster should be attractive and informative.
- Once the student has completed the poster it should be uploaded to the class assignment folder.
Reflection
Continual growth is a part of each professional educators career. We must continue to adapt to the students, culture and technology. Each of our communities will continue to change and the amount of change will be unique to each of us. I have chosen to embrace technology and incorporate as much learning technology into my classroom.