One overarching take away that I have learned through take this course is that technology is continually getting better and better. When I entered this course I had a small amount of technology tools I had experience with and now I see that there are endless opportunities to incorporate technology into my classroom. Typically I shied away from technology tools because of thoughts that I would not be able to effectively use the tools in the classroom or not have the time to sit down and create them. Thankfully with this course under my belt I can see that not all technology has to be created. Teachers share their work with other teachers and many of these technologies can be used and fit in my classroom. Also I can create lessons and tools for my students in a timely manner. The second major take away I took from this class was the SAMR model. This allows teachers to replace a typical assignment and make students think deeper and experience how technology can assist their education. Another take away from this course was the simplicity of many technology tools. When I started working on some of the assignments I feared that the tools would be difficult to use and that it would take me a long time to accomplish them. What I found was that most of these tools (with the exception of some) were extremely user friendly. As a teacher I spend a lot of time planning lessons that carter to each of my students. This means that any tool I use needs to be efficient and not extremely time consuming. Most of the tools we used in this course were just that. Google Docs was another big take away from this class as well. I love the idea of students working on the same document at the same time on separate computers. This tool was extremely similar to Microsoft word which most students have experience with. Collaboration is key and this tool takes collaboration to a whole new level.

My favorite assignment we accomplished in this course was the Podcast. Though it was extremely simple and easy to create I had the most fun creating it. I think it has a lot to do with the story I told. I can see where this could be used in a classroom in many different ways. Students could create and tell their stories through personal podcast, or I could use my podcasts to teach my students. The good thing about a podcast is even the shy students can accomplish it. Not many people like to create a video for the simple fact they have to be on camera. The podcast allows students to simply record themselves. I do realize some students do not like to hear themselves but I believe when students are given a well thought out assignment that is both educational and fun they will take it and run away with it. Teachers will get back wonderful assignments.

My SAMR assignment was a great way to teach students who struggle with writing how they should approach writing a history paper. Essentially my SAMR project broke down the basic essay writing process and made students collaborate and research individually and together. This improved the student’s ability to write, communicate, and use technology. I plan to use my SAMR model in my classroom and create others similar to it. Our first assignment was to create a poster that introduced ourselves. It was extremely simple and gave each student and the professor an idea of first what were looked like and our aspirations. I love this and it will be used in my classroom. I think it is important for teachers to know and understand our student’s goals and aspirations. Now I realize some students do not know what they want to do or have no goals. I do believe teachers can inspire however. The poster assignment can allow the teacher to understand student backgrounds and helps teachers get to know the students. I plan to use this assignment in the first week of classes so that I can begin to assess and plan to best accommodate my students. Typically people love to tell about themselves as well so most students will enjoy this assignment.      

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1ncHE6tsc7IMHBiS21LWS1kbWU4TDliV3lzVzc0c253QTZB/view?usp=sharing

This week I decided to create a podcast to share my experience my first day of college on the campus of the University of South Alabama. To be honest I have never made a podcast and I was blown away at how easy it was to make this one. My cell phone like most others is an Apple iPhone. I used the app on my iPhone called voice memos to create my podcast. On the voice memos app you simply press the red recording button and begin to speak into the phone. Because it is a phone it does not require headphones with a microphone. Once I was finished telling my story I pressed the red stop button and the app instantly created the podcast file. All I had to do from there was edit the name of the file. The app allowed my to email the file to myself. I jumped on my computer and downloaded the file from my email to my google drive. I went to my google drive and created a shareable link. Now I have my podcast on my blog. I really enjoyed creating this blog. It was time efficient, easy to create, and can be used in many different ways in a secondary education classroom. I can see my students creating podcast of historical events as a project in my classroom. I was most surprised at how confident I was speaking into the phone. It only took one take to create my two minute podcast which could be beneficial as a teacher when it comes to time spent creating lesson plans and content.

https://quizlet.com/_3uqszx

The first assessment tool I used was Quizlet. Quizlet allows you to create classes and distribute assignments to each individual class. It is a great study tool and even generates test for teachers and students to use/take. One issue I found is any questions that have dates for answers have to be exactly as the answer was placed when building the quizlet or it will be marked wrong. For example, one question was “When did Japan attack Pearl Harbor?” If a student answers December 7, 1941 then the question will be marked wrong because the student did not include the “th” after the 7. When creating assignments Quizlet has many questions already created that can be used when building an exam or assignment. This was nice because some of my wording was not quite as sharp as the already created questions. The questions already made also have the answers made as well so it makes creating a test extremely easy.

https://quizizz.com/admin/quiz/5db07f568b2bdd001a3df9be

The other assessment tool I used to create a quize was on Quizizz.com. This website was extremely easy to use. It also had the option of creating a class. Once you create a class you have the ability to invite anyone to join the class by email which would make life simple. Creating the quiz was extremely easy. I simply typed my question in the section for the question and then provided four answers in the answer blanks. Then I selected the correct answer and saved the question. It then took me to where I can create another question. Each quiz is given its own shareable link which can be sent out, however as a teacher I would rather just assign the quiz to my class that was created in the Quizizz website.

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To access my lesson go to edmodo.com and create an account. Provide the code and join my classroom.

This week I decided to create a lesson using Edmodo. To my surprise this website was extremely easy to use. If I had to compare it to something I would call it an educational Facebook. A teacher can create a page for each individual class. Edmodo assigns a letter code that is specific to each class. Students create their free student accounts and provide the code which places them on the teachers page. Once each student is on the class page the teacher can send out questions, discussion posts, videos, assignments, quizzes, and even test. If the students take a test or quiz the teacher can program Edmodo to add the grade straight to the grade book if they want. There is also an Edmodo app students can download to their smart devices and access materials for studying at home or working on assignments when absent. Parents can also see what students are doing in class with the use of Edmodo as well. The assignment I created was extremely simple to make and I never ran into any issues. The biggest hindrance to Edmodo is each student needs a device with internet capability. This cite will be used in my classroom because it can be accessed at any time which students tend to like.

For my video project I decided to capture all of my content on my Phone. I then emailed myself the videos and downloaded to my desktop computer where I used the Movavi Video Editing Software that I downloaded to my desktop computer. This software was pretty awesome. It was very user friendly. This was pretty much my first time making a video from scratch. The only issue with the free version is the first few seconds of my video has a stamp across the middle of the screen. This could be used by students in and out of the classroom to work on projects or instructional videos. Teachers could also use videos to help teach lessons. They can also provide videos of lessons to the substitute teachers when they are going to be absent from class.

https://www.teachertube.com/user/channel/coachgatewood

The four learning theories covered in this weeks lesson can all be beneficial to our classrooms as educators. I believe all students learn in different ways. Some may be similar to others, but each student has different experiences and unique characteristics that make them who they are. Those experiences can influence how our students learn. The theory of connectivism stood out to me the most because students are learning to take control of their own individual education. As educators we should be encouraging students to do what works best for themselves, while teaching them to take control of their education. I used the basic Microsoft Excel program in order to create my learning matrix. Excel is very simple to use and I am confident in using the program. The first cite provided in this weeks lesson is what I found most helpful when creating my matrix. It gave a simplified explanation of each theory and even provided some applications/examples of each theory. Connectivism is a theory that I do not remember learning about in my undergraduate studies. The other three were used and explained in great detail while studying during my undergraduate degree.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
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• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.