Journal #7 Professional Learning Network

Reflecting on my professional learning network experience I must be honest and admit that I did not utilize the networks to the fullest.  I would often forget to log onto the blogs or Twitter to keep up with the latest posts and news/activities.

I have heard great things about Twitter and I did search hashtags that did lead to various educational professionals and resources but it was not as easy as I thought it would be.  When I set up my account Twitter suggested people and groups to follow based on my interests but it was still challenging for me to remember to check the Twitter feeds.  I do not use any social media so I think Twitter was not always an idea in my head to constantly check or utilize.

I did use the #DidYouKnow in my classroom.  I connected my phone to the document camera and used the Twitter app to search the hashtag.  Although my kindergarten students have heard of hashtags and Twitter they were not completely sure of what exactly it was.  They did like hearing random fun facts (the ones they could understand LOL).

I did find DIGG Reader very useful.  I found a few very useful kindergarten blogs that I used for resources.  I am only in my second year of teaching so it is useful to read and learn about ideas and strategies that have worked for experienced veteran teachers.  Many of the blog creators create their own resources to use in the classroom and I have used quite a few of those resources.

I do think that if I step out of my comfort zone a little bit more I can utilize Twitter for professional development.  I also think Twitter can be a great tool to use in the classroom.  I am not too sure how to use it as a tool in my kindergarten class but I do think it can be used by students in upper grades.  Although I would want to learn more about how to monitor and limit the feeds and posts that the students can access.  I would love to use Blogger as a tool in the classroom.  My students are just learning to read, write, and type but I think it would be a cool concept to have my students make video blog posts that could be accessed on a classroom blog.

I hope to achieve a lot of prep and planning during the summer break so I can hopefully start to use these tools in the classroom to engage my students and grow as an educator.

Journal #6 Self Reflection

I have definitely learned a great deal about coding, HTML, CSS, and building basic webpages while taking this course.  Learning how to produce webpages using HTML codes and CSS has not been easy for me.  The textbook exercises challenged me but I was able to work past my comfort zone to learn how to complete the book exercises.

One thing I struggle with is correctly entering code into the text editor to achieve the desired outcome.  I often will make one tiny mistake that impacts my entire webpage.  I have accidentally mixed up a colon where a semi colon was needed and that one mistake drastically affects the entire page.  It was also a challenge for me to understand when and where to place tags and end tags, but I think that practicing the book exercises really helped me with that area.  The more and more I practiced coding basic webpage elements in class and at home has payed off because I do feel that I have made a great deal of progress over the last 10 weeks.

The most challenging assignment for me so far has been creating the link for all my book exercises.  It was challenging to make sure all my links were correctly set up and working properly.  I also purchased a new MAC computer so I was teaching myself how to use a MAC (I have previously only used PC) while also trying to complete the assignment and transfer all my work to my new laptop as well.  This was also my most rewarding assignment I have completed because I am so proud of myself for completing the assignment!  It is very rewarding to see all my hard work come to life on the CPP server and on the web.

http://www.cpp.edu/~tkelparin/512/book.html

Journal #5 Twitter

I joined Twitter a couple weeks ago.  I definitely feel a little overwhelmed when looking  at feeds on Twitter because prior to this class I did not use any social media sites.  I did like quite a few of the activities mentioned in the Twitter resources folders. 
I think that Twitter could be a great resource to use in the classroom. I think that students can use the hashtag #DidYouKnow to find out various interesting and entertaining facts.  I think it could be used as a quick daily activity that students would be very engaged in.  They could check each morning upon coming to class and share with the whole class about the daily #DidYouKnow.  I also like the idea of using the #History to learn about something that happened that day in history.  I think it could be a fun way for students to learn about various important events throughout history. 
I am still exploring using Twitter as a professional development tool.  I think that Twitter can be a great resource for educators to connect to one another and share ideas. 
I currently do not see myself using Twitter in my classroom as a tool for the students to use because I teach Kinder and I do not think my students could use Twitter independently. I do think I could use Twitter as a resource to share with my students.  I think my students would like to know something like #DidYouKnow as long as it was facts they could relate to/understand.

Journal #4 Project Plan

• Site title: Kinder Kraze
  
  
• Developer: Tiffany Stubblefield
  
• Rational or Focus: The goal for my site is to provide all the information my student's parents need regarding my class in one resource that they can access anywhere at anytime.  I would like to basically include all the information parents would receive about the class when attending a back to school night or meet the teacher night.  I would also like my parents to be able to view the site and see what we are focusing on in class, what we will be doing next, important dates/events, and strategies/resources they can use at home to reinforce what their child is learning at school.
  
• Main features outline:
  Main homepage/welcome page
    - weekly newsletter
    -announcements
    -what we are learning this week
  
• Content: 
  -Homepage/welcome page
        Sub topics/web pages
      -about me
      -classroom expectations/behavior system (classroom management)
      -homework procedures
      -Year at a glance
      -upcoming dates/events
      -resources
      -kinder standards
    
• Target audience :The directed audience of the site is the parents of my students. I would like the site to be a resource for the parents and allow for me to ensure they have up to date information about my class and their child's eduction.
  
• Design considerations: 
  -I would like the site to be very user friendly
  -I would like to have a main "welcome" page and then tabs along to the top for my various pages within my site
  -layout/format to be accessible via computer, tablet, smartphone
  -colorful and creative (like kindergarten is!)
  -kindergarten focuses on seasons and holidays, I would like to change the main "welcome" page depending on the season/holiday.
  -my classroom theme this year is Pete the Cat, I would like my site design to go along with that theme as well.
  
• Limiting factors:
  -I am new to creating web sites and using HTML code
  -I am not sure how to add interactive elements to my site
  -I want to have many different elements to my site, but I am worried I might be taking on too much for my first site 

Journal #3

Kessler, S. (2010, September 29). The Case For Social Media in Schools. Retrieved October 18, 2015.

In the article The Case For Social Media in Schools, Kessler argues that having social media as a resource for education in the classroom creates an interactive positive learning environment for students.  Kessler points out that a large number of students are regularly using a social media site/app. "Almost three-fourths of 7th through 12th graders have at least one social media profile" (Kessler  2010). She also makes the argument that students learn more when they are engaged, therefore if students like social media they will be more engaged in lessons that can incorporate social media or social media like sites.  Lastly Kessler also states that there are several free resources to teach safe social media tools, and that if parents and teachers are involved in teaching students these safe tools then using social media will be a much more positive experience for everyone.
I agree with Kessler that social media can be used as a resource in and out of the classroom.  I think that interactive class sites and forums would keep students more engaged in their class lessons.  I also think having a class social media site would strengthen the sense of class community.   If a student could access their class social media site at home via a smartphone/tablet/computer they could post questions, start discussions, form study groups, and so much more.  I think that there are a lot of possibilities for the upper grades to use social media for educational purposes.  I also think it is smart to educate the parents as well.  I find that often parents look at social media as a negative when in fact they are just not familiar with social media or the many positive uses for it.  Having parents on board to help supervise their students social media use and learn about social media can help the parents stay involved and connected with their child as well.

Q 1: How could a teacher use social media as a resource in the classroom?

A 1: I think that a teacher could have the students set up a classroom blog based on a certain topic they are discussing and rather then have a class discussion students could state their opinions as comments/blog posts on the classroom blog.  The teacher could even have the students use accountable talk sentences frames and language so they can practice their accountable talk skills and debate skills.

Q 2: Could social media be utilized in the primary grades?

A 2: I teach Kindergarten and I honestly could not see my students using any type of social media simply because they are just learning their letters, sounds, and how to write.  I do think that social media could be used in a 4th or 5th grade classroom.  Maybe in those grades the teacher would have students create blogs, participate in something like Edmodo, or Class Dojo.

Journal #2

I was not familiar with Digg Reader before taking this course.  I like the idea of being able to choose the news, blogs, etc. that I am most interested in.  I chose to subscribe to several kindergarten blogs because I often find resources on Pintrest that are pinned from various teacher blogs.  Digg Reader allows me to go directly to the kindergarten blogs rather than having to find a blog through Pintrest first.  I also chose to subscribe to ESPN and the San Diego Chargers to stay up to date on my favorite team!

I have not previously been a part of an affinity group or PNG.  I chose to join Edutopia because it seems to be updated quite often and has a large number of members.  I teach kindergarten so I like that I can search for videos, resources, and live chats for my grade level.

I also chose to create an Edmodo account because I have heard of Edmodo before and it was recommended to me by a colleague.  I like that Edmodo allows me to store my resources but I have not fully created my profile yet and I am not sure how much useful I will find the group.  At first glance it seems that it is almost like a Facebook for my class where I can post assignments and grades. I teach Kinder so I do not know if that aspect will appeal to me, but I will try it out and see!




Q1: How could Digg Reader be used as a resource in the classroom?

A1: I teach kindergarten so I honestly do not think that Digg would be a very good resource for my students because they are just learning their sounds, letters and how to read.  However I do think that Digg could be used with older students. Students love to use technology and I think they would be more interested in reading up on current events if it was via a technology device. If I taught upper grades I would allow my students to subscribe to Digg articles that pertain to our topics and news articles. The students could read the articles and then could present on a current event that they learned about.  I think it would be a creative way for students to keep on what is going on in their community and the world around them.

Q2: If districts had their own affinity groups for their educators would that a valuable resource for teachers?

I personally think it would be nice if my district had their own affinity group.  Every district is a little different and have their own goals and requirements and it would be nice to be able to connect with teachers that have resources and ideas specifically for me or my colleagues.  I also think that maybe then the affinity group could hold discussions and webinar training that would allow teachers to participate in professional development from home.  The issue I see with this is that for me I have found that many of the veteran teachers in my district do not have an interest in technology or learning new technology so I am not sure that the affinity group would be fully utilized.

First Blog Post- Journal #1 Ch.1-3

This is my first blog post for my GED-512 class Introduction to Web Development class.

Robbins, J. (2012). Learning web design: A beginner's guide to HTML, CSS, Javascript, and web graphics (4th ed., pp. 3-45). Sebastopol, California: O'Reilly.

Summary: The first three chapters of the text discuss the basics of web development, the web, and a server.  I will admit before reading these chapters I did not know the the web and the internet were two completely different things.

                Chapter one really focuses on breaking down the various reasons why someone might be reading the text to learn basic web development skills, and how many roles are embedded into web development.   The basic skeleton of a web site was also discussed.  Wireframe diagrams how the layout of a website, while a site diagram shows the structure and how each area is connected to one another.

                Chapter two dove into the actual elements of the web, a server, HTML, and a URL address.  I learned that the internet and the web are not the same thing.  The internet is basically just a network of computers while the web is a way for people to share and communicate using the internet (hopefully I understand that correctly myself).  

                Chapter three focused on meeting the needs of the new ways technology and the web are being used today.  Robbins mentions that in the past people mainly accessed the web via desktop computers, but now people use various hand held devices to access the web.  She mentions that it is important to follow the standards when creating websites, using HTML, and various other web development programs to keep up with the various technology advances.

Q1: Why is it important to modify our web development in order to meet the needs of new technology?

A1: I think it is important to always keep up with the way technology and the web are being used so that websites are successful and meaningful.  Most people access the web on their cell phone now and I have heard that previous web development programs have not been successful when used on a mobile device.  I t is important to know your audience when creating a site and know how they will be accessing the information on the site so that the site can be successful and serve its purpose.

Q2: What is HTML code and CSS, and how do I use it when creating a webpage?

A2: HTML code is that actual code you will type /create the content of the webpage.  HTML code uses various tags to add to the content that a viewer will see on the page such as paragraphs, page breaks, links, headings, and more.  CSS shows the various style elements that a viewer will see when visiting the page.  For example CSS will be used to select color, fonts, pictures, and many visual aspects of the web page layout.