Danielle's EME2040 Blog

Adaptive technologies are very helpful and sometime necessary in a classroom if there are diverse learners in the classroom. They're another way to let kids learn at their own pace without holding kids back or trying to push them to progress faster in subjects that are harder for them. I remember when I was little we would have designated silent reading time, but a select few students had book with CDs containing the audiobook version so they could listen to someone read it while they followed along. Now there are apps that go even further as to highlight the words as the device reads you the story. The incorporation of adaptive technologies in classrooms can drastically change the approach of teaching, so that is one challenge that couldn't be completely understood until you know what technologies and kind of students you're working with. In my classroom I would use PowerPoint to introduce ideas and reinforce ideas, however as an elementary teacher I don't foresee Po...

I've enjoyed using Twitter in this class, but it is definitely challenging to keep up with. This is primarily due to the fact that I don't use Twitter on a regular basis, so I often forget or just happen to remember to check it twice a week. However, I have found it useful when I do remember to use it and have found interesting articles and been exposed to important issues because of it. I've learned about technological advances in classroom, and about different teaching methods that are less rigid than what I was used to. I've found that many classrooms that incorporate technology are more progressive and allow more student independence. Whether if it's allowing the students to learn about what they want or even just letting them get up and walk around the room without being called on. I've never created a webpage before so the mere idea of being assigned one for a grade was, needless to say, daunting. However, I found Weebly a very user friendly and easy to ...

For my independent learning project I wanted to learn how to make infographics. I've used Piktochart before, but on Lynda.com they had a tutorial on how to create and edit an infographic with Adobe Illustrator. I've used Adobe Photoshop and InDesign before because of my old yearbook class, but I've never worked with Illustrator which prompted my curiosity of this tutorial. When I began watching I was actually surprised at how much I didn't know about infographics. I learned that the majority of the infographic relies on pictures rather than words. The woman in the tutorial explained this by comparing a real infographic versus one that essentially looked like a PowerPoint slide. She explained that when she took away the words in the bad example, you couldn't understand what the major theme or what any information meant. However, when she took away the text in the good example, there was a clear theme and you could understand the concept of the infographic. I was ...

The website I found was that of a teacher named Mrs. Brunner who teaches 6th grade math at Lumpkin County Middle. The information she posts that is public is her schedule so you can come to her when she's free for help, supplies needed, reminders, daily agendas, and a link to a class twitter. It's convenient that the kids can see what they'll be doing each day of class with the daily agendas posted. Posting the reminders is also helpful for the students to remember what needs to be done, and it allows the parents to see it and make sure their child is on top of their work. http://lcms.lumpkinschools.com/classroom/dd21d3ff-5a91-4a0a-809d-8e516f54253b?skip=1 I imagine I'll probably be using a lot of technology as a teacher. Since I want to do elementary I feel like children are more drawn to learning via tablets or technology in general. I've also been having to observe classrooms for another education class and found that ClassDojo is effective in reenfo...

Many Web 2.0 technologies are useful in getting students to engage with the topics their learning and getting them to understand topics on a deeper level. That being said I  definitely want to incorporate them into my classroom. As the podcast mentioned, Web 2.0 tools allow their users to communicate and interact with one another. I know some helpful ones I've always liked were YouTube, Skype, Google Docs, and now Diigo. I don't think I've encountered any Web 2.0 tools that I haven't found helpful or useful in some way. Because I plan on teaching elementary, I probably won't be using tools like Diigo or Twitter because it's not really geared towards younger kids. However, I most likely will still use them to make lesson plans. A Web 2.0 tool that I'll most likely use in my future classroom is Storybird . It's an interactive story sharing site. It's kid friendly because you can create and share online created picture books. The site includes the abi...

Upon hearing we were using Twitter I was excited because I'm familiar with the social media platform. However, the more I used it for this class, the more I realized how effective it is at sharing actual news and information instead of jokes and memes. It's been helpful for me to see other people's tweets and it's interesting to read what they have to share. I actually responded to another person in the class agreeing about how useful we found the blogs to be. Now that I see this side of Twitter, I can see how beneficial it will be in the future, especially as a teacher. All the accounts I've been following like @edutopia and @EdSurge, have connected me to news and articles I wouldn't have seen prior to my class Twitter account.  I think using Twitter as a simple and quick news outlet will help to update me on more efficient and effective ways to teach and include technology in my classroom. Digital divide affects those students who don't have Internet or ...