#3 Tech, Apps and Tragedy

• When looking at the Technology Standards, I felt a little over whelmed because this is such a new era of teaching. I feel like my parents' minds would be blown after looking at them. I would feel comfortable teaching a class the "in and outs" of Microsoft Word. Showing people how to edit a document properly, including editing text, images and other various document elements. I have been working with Word for so long could confidently teach students the basics. However, I would not feel prepared to teach typing clinics or proper hand "movements", I struggled as a student in this area therefore I think I would need more practice with key strokes, shortcuts and "blind typing". 
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• I swear the key board cover will come back to haunt me again one day. So, if your are key board challenged like me, I highly recommend getting a cup of coffee, turning on some Chance the Rapper to jam to and just practice. 

Peep this link... 

https://soundcloud.com/chancetherapper/all-we-got-feat-kanye-west-chicago-childrens-choir

Some sources I would use in the classroom include I would use programs like Turnitin.com to help students double and triple check they are citing their sources correctly. This would instill the fear that was instilled in me when I was first introduced to this program. It made me make sure I was using the correct citing format as well as never steal someone else's words. Some apps I would use with an English class would be Membean. It is a program that helps broaden students vocabulary and uses both visual, verbal, and real life examples for each word. 

Again 10/10 would recommend: http://www.membean.com/wrotds/auto-self

Alright, I am going to share with you all the tragedy that has occurred to me this week. The scene: 9am Dirac Library. I sit down and start my News Letter for my imaginary 1st grade class. It's looking fantastic. Fast forward to 10am, I am at the half way point, feeling pretty good about it so I decide to treat myself to an iced coffee downstairs from Starbucks. I spent the last $5 in my bank account but decide that it's worth it because of how fire this Word Document was looking. Eventually at 10:45, I am putting the final touches on it. Then suddenly the color wheel of death appears... its this thing. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinning_pinwheel (This is the link incase I need to cite it)

I don't know about you guys, but whenever I see it I know I done goofed up. Then the climax of this sad story hits and Microsoft Word crashes. Everything is gone and the past Hour and a half of my life is wasted. Even the coffee, useless, just like my time. I become frantic. I go to the library front desk and they say there is nothing I can do. I call the FSU IT help desk and all they did was apologize for my loss. The tears start because I am a cryer and my friend felt bad for me and got me a pumpkin muffin. (score) Eventually I got dehydrated, so pulled myself together and started over. 

I have learned from this assignment computers are not perfect. They are not reliable and you always should have automatic save turned ON when working on anything. I learned how to work efficiently when upset, because no matter what mood you might be in you must get your work done.  As a future teacher I know for a fact I will not want to write up a Newsletter for my class all the time. However, you do what you gotta do, and thats what I did.  

I feel like I used my space wisely in the document below. I went a little color coordination crazy but why not. If I am going to ask parents to read this, I need to make it look good. Word has so many cool edits and word art settings it made it so easy. 

Thank you for your time, I will be shocked if anyone reads this whole thing. 

Happy Blogging bloggers. 

#2 Word

As a student I have used Microsoft word quite frequently, to write research papers, create pamphlets, and make posters for advertising in high school. I have seen teachers use Microsoft word for their class notes and handouts. Copy Right, which is a form of protection for one intellectual work is important because educators frequently make use of different tools for presentations, examples, and lectures. The fair use guidelines let teachers use and copy materials with in reason, and it depends how the material is being used as well as how much of it is being used.

For example, a couple pages of a book might be alright to post as a resource for students as PDF online. However, posting a pdf of the whole book would be highly illegal. I have experienced a scare when submitting a paper without proper citations of a book that I quoted and it would have been considered plagiarism. But luckily my instructed called it to my attention as soon as it was submitted onto Turnitin.com. As I grow into my career and develop my own instructional materials I will most likely put Copy Rights on my materials. Just so my work is not abused or misused.


I am a frequent user of Twitter with my personal account, I always check in on my friends and favorite celebrities (and often look at food accounts and have fantasies about NYC milkshakes and what not). However, I had no idea the network of education professionals that were present on the site. I have found a couple of very unique accounts that share their new creative ways to teach students math and new vocabulary. For example, the twitter account Flocabulary (Flow-vocabulary) is about how teachers are having students making their own rap songs to teach them vocab. Along with proper pronunciation and definition. Try searching the Twitter handle!

( https://twitter.com/Flocabulary )


I plan on using a lot of social media to enhance my teaching and use fresh ideas in the classroom for interactive games and tools. For example, in my intro to Education class, my classmate used a website called Kahoot where everyone could use their phone as a way to lock in answers for an interactive review! I hope that when I become a professional I can utilize new games as such!

#1 Tech Native

Technology has become such a huge part of our society today, both in our personal and professional lives. We use it to store important documents, manage money, connect with family, and make online purchases. Therefor it is vital that we expose kids to technology usage and give them the skills in order to grow with our tech saturated society. However, there will always be concerns about weather the student are using technology for the right reasons or not. There is also the expense of suppling schools with proper tools, which in some communities is not a practical to provide with their budget.  Overall I do agree that technology in the classroom is a vital part of teaching children to be tech- literate.


I think that one aspect of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) that is wonderful is that it is educating both teachers and students to use and apply the tech skills they need to further succeed in life. I do not agree that the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) are testing and evaluating the skills they "should" have because we have no idea where these individuals where brought up and it is somewhat unfair that it is expected.


I agree with the label that calls our the youth of today "digital natives". This is because A paragraph on whether or not you agree with the label “digital native” for today’s youth.  Which means that kids today have grown up with smart phones, tablets and computers. They are use to having information accessed at a fingertip all the time and are familiar with how they work. Unlike our grandparents and some parents of today. I have seen differences between the generations when it comes to how fast it takes kids and adults to pull up an email or video. I have seen the impact in communication in classroom. When teachers couldn't make the power point correctly or just did not know how to use smart boards.  Some times I find it frustrating but personally I learn better from teachers writting out notes on the board so it does not effect me dramatically.  In the future I foresee my classroom being packed with technology with presentations for almost every lecture with interactive games and learning activities they can use on their tablets or computers.