Journal 7 - Week 7: Professional Learnig Networks

       So to start this blog i must say I have been teaching for 3 years and this is year 4 as an official teacher. I have worked in classrooms for the past 8 years and in colleges for about four years also. The professional learning networks I am a part of are not on Twitter or RSS feed and I have not really used them to their full extent. I work with a group that is focused on teaching in an all male environment and also in a Roman Catholic environment. I also AM a member of the California Mathematics Council, which is focused at -12 education in all settings. As twitter goes I do not use it in my class I use an App called Remind 101, Moodle, and Google Classroom. At the school I am at we also have our own webpages on our site that can also send messages and be use as a network to communicate with students. As for my experience with RSS feed and Twitter I do not really have much feed back expect it is another forum to look to if an educator is looking for now ideas. I hope you enjoyed reading my blogs thus far.

Week 6 journal - Week 6 Eval.

I have learned so much through this class it is ridiculous. When we first stared this class i thought it would be fairly easy and not require too much time, I was mistaken. When we started I told my wife that this class was going to be easy as we went through the weeks my story would change and I found myself saying that this was the class I liked more this quarter. I discovered that i like typing code and trouble shooting issues in code, it reminded me of when i first learned how to code in C++, LaTex, and in MatLab. I get so captivated by the code and trying to make my code as flawless as it can be. Up to this point I have liked all of the projects they have shown me things that will in the end aid in me creating my webpage that I aim to use for my thesis. From the book work we have completed up to this point I would say that I have a combination of chapters that I liked. I liked the Chapters that had us create the restaurant website because it showed us how to link pages an insert basic graphics. I liked that we created different pages and the links this will help me to create the webpage I hope to use for my project. 

In the end I am really enjoying this class and I am learning the most from just playing in class from what is being taught and see what else I can do. I like taking what is being shown in class and modifying it just to see the effects. I learned the most while in class and not from the book work mainly because I am a kinesthetic learner.

Journal #5 - Twitter

Journal #5 - Twitter

               I have had a Twitter for a few years and do not really use it often. I mainly use Twitter to follow my favorite bands/artists and also other personal interests. I read the posts and watched the videos but I have also been informed from my students that they do not really use twitter to often any more because more and more teachers are seeing what they post and the students do not want the teachers to see their posts. I have more and more students using SnapChat. I think the idea of using social media in the classroom is great and should be done to some extent. I also know that using social media comes with risks of being hacked. I know that my twitter has been hacked several times and I have had to delete some obscene and inappropriate post that were uploaded and shared. My concern with using social media in the class is that there may be issues with students being hacked and non-academic posts being made. In class we were shown how easy it is to hack a persons Facebook or other site where passwords are saved. Also, a concern I have with this is the accessibility to social media. I still have students who do not have cell phones of other access to the Internet except from their home, this is outside of school, and during school they need to go to the library. In the end I think there will be more applications that will be designed for classroom use.

Journal #4 Web Site Outline

·       Site title - The working title for the site.

• How to Solve Quadratic Equations

·       Developer – You

• Jason Corella

·       Rational or focus - Explain the content and goals for the site. Have a statement of purpose. Know your main objectives.

• The main focus of this site is to show examples of how to solve quadratic equations using various methods. On the site there will be step by step directions on how to solve quadratics by factoring, completing the square, quadratic formula, and by the square root property. On the site I will also link to quadratic equation solver calculators. The purpose of this site is add a resource on how to solve quadratic equations. The goal of the site is that students will gain a grasp on how to find solutions to quadratics and/or x-intercepts.

·       Main features outline - List the main features of the site. 

• The site will feature several methods of solving quadratics and also offer examples for students to work on after they have read the lesson. The site will also have links to quadratic equation calculators so that students can check their work and try to find solutions to quadratics they create themselves.

·       Content - Number of individual Web pages. Brainstorm subtopics for your site. Have a concise outline of the information your site will contain.

•  

·       Target audience - Describe the typical audience for the site.

• The main audience I wish to target for use of the site are students currently looking to learn and also teachers who are teaching students how to solve quadratics.

·       Design considerations. List the design goals for the site.

•  

·       Limiting factors - List the technical or audience factors that could limit the design goals of the site.

• I am not completely sure if there is a way to add a random number generator into the site so that I can create new practice question for students and teachers to answer as examples.

Journal # 3 - Social Media

Kessler, S. (2010, September 29). The Case For Social Media in Schools. Retrieved October 14, 2016, from http://mashable.com/2010/09/29/social-media-in-school/#7ttdiIaPOkqR

Klopfer, E. (2009). The Instructional Power of Digital Games, Social Networking, Simulations and how Teachers Can Leverage Them. Retrieved October 12, 2016, from http://education.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/GamesSimsSocNets_EdArcade.pdf

The two articles have a clear stance in their titles on social media and technology in the classroom. The article and webpage but give reasons why social media and technology are good and should be used in the classroom. The article, The Instructional Power of Digital Games, Social Networking, Simulations and how Teachers Can Leverage Them, gives several accounts from teachers who have used social media and technology (games) in their classroom to teach students valuable lessons having to relate to the curriculum. On the webpage, “The Case for Social Media in Schools,” it talks about how social media is being used in schools already and how it is becoming more commonly used in classrooms on a daily basis. The webpage gives six main points on why social media is good for the classroom and should be incorporated. I read these articles because I agree with the message they are trying to put out, which is that technology and social media should be used in the classroom. The best example of this is what you are currently reading. I hope you enjoy the technology and social media we are using in the classroom.

Question #1

Is the social media that is being used today always going to work?

Answer #1

The social media being used today is good for the now but is changing everyday.  The social networks and media sites being used today are most likely not the same as those that were being used even just 3-5 years ago. Currently the big social media sources being used are Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, there are more then the listed but that is what I hear from my students. so, no, the sources being used now will not be what you always use  but they can be a great start to learning how to use new sources.

Question #2

Are social media sources secure?

Answer #2

There are ways to monitor social media sites and there are social media sources that can be used that are designed for educators. The sources that are designed for educators tend to have security measure that help to monitor who is posting and when they are posting. Through educator designed sources you also can control who is allowed to read and post so that you can identify and monitor what is being said by whom and to whom it is being said.

Journal # 2 – Digg Reader and Twitter

Journal # 2 – Digg Reader

I joined an affinity group called Mathematics and Multimedia. The way I found this group was just searching mathematics on the dig user platform. I looked at several groups before I found this one but I saw the name and was drawn to it because these are both topics I am interested in. I started looking at the pages and links that were in the group and it turns out that this was really a website.  I had never thought to search for this type of information before but just by searching Mathematics on Digg Reader I found that I can find some useful tools that I can use in my classroom. I had an overall good experience with Digg Reader and also joined a few other groups for my personal interest, such as skateboarding and Lewis Carroll.

Question 1:

Why use Digg Reader?

Answer 1:

I think Digg Reader is a good place to start looking up topics you may not be familiar. Using Digg Reader you can search a topic and it will return site and an abstract of an article that is connected to a website, blog, or some other source. Digg reader is good place to start looking up what information is available and can also help you discover new topics you may not have thought of before.

Question 2:

How can twitter be helpful for a teacher?

Answer 2:

Twitter can be a great resource for teachers. Teachers can create accounts that are private and can pick to allow students to follow so you can know who is on the account. Through Twitter you can post reminds about upcoming assignments or school events. Teachers can pose questions for students to think about prior to class so that when they come to class they have had time to formulate good answers and questions. Now there are other resources other than Twitter that can be used to do the same functions but as Twitter is something many students are familiar with it would reduce the amount of time a teacher would have to spend showing the students how to use. Now, I have only mentioned a few benefits but here is a link to a site with more; Click to go to link. Also, let me note with much of technology there are also many pitfalls to using Twitter and they should be thought of before using this as a source.

Journal 1 Blog Post: Chapter 1 -3

Journal #1: Summary of Part I – Getting Started from Learning Web Design (Book)

Robbins, J. N. (2012). Learning web design: A beginner's guide to HTML, CSS, Javascript, and web graphics. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly.

Summary: In the first three chapters of this book there were many topics that were mentioned. It started by trying to give a good way to begin on how to design a web page. Then in chapter two, titled “How the Web Works” it starts with a short section that gives some information on the differences between the web and the Internet. The Internet is a network of connected computers as stated in the book. The Internet is not owned by any one individual but is designed for sharing information using different methods. The web also know as the World Wide Web (www) is just one of the methods that can be used to share information through the Internet. The way the information is shared is through a server, which is not the actual computer. The server is actually software that is used to send and receive information through the Internet.

Question 1: Is the World Wide Web the only way that information can be shared through the Internet?

            The World Wide Web is not the only way to share information through the Internet. There is email, instant messaging, and many other ways to share and receive information through the Internet. I have only named a few but as times continues there will be more ways to share information.

Question 2: What is one new method that computer networks are able to share information through the Internet?

            One new forum that is being used to share information through the Internet is Google’s Drive. Google’s Drive allows people to upload files of almost any type and allow them the convenience to access the files on any device that can decode the file. Through Google’s Drive people are also allowed to share documents with anyone else that has a Google account.