Extra Credit

This a picture of Jennifer Gonzalez and the name of her podcast.
This picture was screen-shotted off of the
podcast home page.
https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/pod/

       
           Technology has become such an important tool for everyday use. Since this blog focuses on the use of technology in eduction I decided to use technology myself by going online and finding a podcast. The podcast I found and chose is called Cult of Pedagogy by Jennifer Gonzalez. On this podcast she covers a little bit of everything. She talks about classroom management, teaching strategies, educational technology and education reform. During the podcasts if the topic has anything to do with education, she is talking about. On the podcast Gonzalez interviews a variety of different people in the field of education, she interviews students, educators, parents and administrators. She will also talk about all the juicy information you will not learn from a textbook like trade secrets and psychological and social dynamics of school. Gonzalez will also do features of her own where she offers advice on how to make your teaching in the classroom more effective and fun. 
           A podcast is an effective tool to learn about teaching and learning through topics because by hearing from others point of view someone can gain new perspectives but also challenge previously thought points of view. All of Gonzalez's podcast are meant for the use of teaching in the hopes that her viewers will have learned or gained something new by the time the podcast is over. Her podcast impact teaching and learning because her main focus of the podcast is to teach others helpful ways to make teaching easier through the topics of classroom management, teaching strategies, educational technology and education reform. By interviewing different students, educators, parents and administrators the viewer is able to hear different perspectives on how teaching in schools is done and also how effective those teaching methods are, while learning from people with different amounts of experience and points of view.
           By the use of her podcast Gonzalez is teaching other educators the tricks of the trade in the education field. By listening to her podcast I am able to gain new knowledge that I did not have before but also new outlooks on different topics in education. I will be able to use the new ideas and perspectives in my own classroom as I learn from other educators. By implementing the new ideas into my own classroom, it will make my teaching methods to students more effective by making sure all students are learning to their full potential. Through the use of this podcast I will be able to make myself better as a teacher for myself, my students, and as a future employee because of the effective tips and tricks I will learn and retain from Gonzalez's podcast.

Gonzalez's podcast are put out through the Education Podcast
Network. This picture was taken from the podcast home page on The
Cult of Pedagogy website. 

Personal Learning Network

This is a picture of my Personal Learning Network. The circles in pencil are what I started out with at the beginning of the year and the ones written in purple are what I have expanded my PLN to since than. I am very proud of the connections I have made and hope to continue expanding my PLN as I continue in my education and also when I myself become a teacher.

This is a picture of when I was working on my video. 

#1. WeVideo - In one of my classes Ed Tech and Design for a project we were required to make a video about a particular topic based off of our Thematic Unit we had worked on early in the year. My groups Thematic Unit was over Dinosaurs so ultimately my video was to be over dinosaurs. Although for my video I decided to take a more narrow view and talk about Carnivores, Herbivores and Omnivores. I had never made a video like this before so this was defiantly a new experience for me. Overall I enjoyed the opportunity of doing something different and making the video my own. Even though making the video was difficult at times I would gladly make another video someday maybe over a family vacation! You can check out the video I made at this link https://www.wevideo.com/view/1000332169

This is a picture of my Twitter news feed. 

#2. Twitter - Since I already had my own personal Twitter I figured it would be a good idea to make another Twitter for just professional use to connect with other educators. I follow several different educators on Twitter who focus on a variety of different topics from how to make the classroom fun everyday and all the way to classroom management skills. I think Twitter is a fantastic way to connect with other educators and learn from their own personal experiences and take them into account for my classroom in the future. My professional Twitter can be found here https://twitter.com/

This is a picture of what my Pinterest feed looks like.

#3. Pinterest - I also already had my own personal Pinterest so I decided to also make another Pinterest for professional use as well so I could follow different boards and people that have to do with education. As of now I follow two different people on Pinterest but hope to find more, they are "Teachers on Pinterest" and also "Miss Kindergarten" both of them pin all kinds of helpful hints for in the classroom and fun activities to do with your students. I follow many education boards that have a little bit of everything to do with education on them. I also have a couple of my own boards so I can pin different helpful hints from others to help myself grow as a future teacher. You can find my professional Pinterest here https://www.pinterest.com/ecaylor0/

#4. Ms. Kresser - This semester I started my Level 1 Field Experience for the education program at the University of Northern Iowa and I was placed in Ms. Kresser's second grade classroom. Every Monday for 10 weeks I go to the school and spend three hours with the class observing and working with the students. I have had the opportunity to experience so many new opportunities in the classroom and now have many first hand experiences. I have also made many new connections at my placement school with other teachers that I could contact someday down the road if I ever need their input or help with something I am working on in my own classroom someday. I get to work with the second graders on their assignments in class, and be involved with many other class time activities. I have enjoyed this experience very much and it has shown me that I love working with younger kids but also has made me love the profession of teaching that much more!


#5. Mrs. Eddy - For one of my classes Children's Literature we are required to do a read-aloud project where we go and read a picture book of our choosing to a class. I chose to read the book to Mrs. Eddy's second grade class. Mrs. Eddy teaches at the same school that my mother has taught at for almost thirty years. Although I know many of the teachers at this school, Mrs. Eddy is a fairly new teacher that I am able to expand my PLN with. I can learn from many of the older teachers I have known all my life growing up around this school but I can also learn from the new generation of teachers coming into the school.

#6. Classroom Bridges - While trying to come up with ideas on how to expand my PLN a girl in my class talked about the site Classroom Bridges where you can go online and connect with other teachers across the country. So I decided to give it a shot! I have always had an interest in going to New Zealand so I decided to see if there was any teachers on this site from New Zealand and lucky for me there was! So I decided to shoot her an email asking how she runs her classroom over in New Zealand and also how she works global collaboration into her own classroom. Although I did not receive a response from her I went out of my comfort zone and contacted someone I did not know. After I did not receive a response from her I decided to give it another go. Sadly I did not receive replies from the next three teachers I sent emails out to. Even though I did not get a response I still believe this site could be very effective to collaborate with other educators all over the country.

This is the home page of Classroom Bridges
http://www.classroombridges.com/

#7. Symbaloo - Symbaloo is an online site where you are able to organize a personal site page that allows you to easily navigate the web through links on the homepage. On the homepage you compile your favorite internet sites for easy access. A couple of the sites I have put on my site map are Prezi, EasyBib, Blackboard and Google Drive as those four are sites I use most often. I think Symbaloo is a great tool to help keep anybody organized and have easy access to the sites they need quickly. I will definitely continue to use Symbaloo as I progress to someday become a teacher.

This is what my Sybmabloo page currently looks like
https://www.symbalooedu.com/

#8. Facebook - On my own personal Facebook I follow a couple of pages made for and done my teachers. Someday I would love to be able to teach Kindergarten so I follow one particular page called "A Differentiated Kindergarten" on this page there are a lot of different fun activities that are also educational for the kids to do. Another one that I like is "A Smiling Teacher" on this page there are many videos and pictures of activities that kids are doing in their classrooms first hand. From these videos and pictures I myself being a future teacher can reflect on them and learn from possible mistakes and also take away the helpful hints from other educators. Finally the last page that I like on Facebook is "K-3 Teacher Resources" just like the name implies this page gives educators the ability to see different ways and strategies other educators are using in their classrooms that may be beneficial to other educators teaching grades K-3. Since I am majoring in Elementary Education I find all three of these different pages on Facebook to be extremely insightful but also fun. I would defiantly recommend any three of these to a K-3 teacher!

#9. Class Craft - This is a internet site for teachers where a teacher can make games to go along with assignments. This site has a game based approach to teaching and learning. The site is designed specifically to encourage students to participate, demonstrate good behavior, work on collaborating with classmates and also working on their 21st-century skills. I have made my own Class Craft and have been trying to play around on it a little from time to time. I believe that this site would be great for students who may not be as outgoing as others or need that little extra push to keep going. When I was younger I was really into playing video games on the computer so I can understand where younger kids could relate to this interactive learning tool because they are playing while learning!

This is my home page on Class Craft
https://www.classcraft.com/

#10. ZoomRoom - For my last PLN connection in my Ed Tech and Design class we had the opportunity to use an online meeting room that I had never heard of before. During the beginning of the year my group was working on a group project and we were required to meet with out teacher on an online site that is free to students at the university I attend called ZoomRoom. This site is similar to Skype, but with this site you are able to meet with groups of people rather than just one person. I thought this tool was very helpful and easy to use. After my teams meeting with our teacher we ourselves used ZoomRoom several times to collaborate on group projects we were working on. I found this tool very useful and would defiantly use it in any situation where I needed to meet with a group of people and we all could not meet at the same place. ZoomRoom makes meeting with a group of people so much easier.

This is a picture of when my group met with our teacher to go over our group project
http://tinyurl.com/yaxfdy6q

I hope you enjoyed reading about all of my PLN connections and I hope some ofthem could be useful to you someday! 

Diversity in the Classroom/Media Influences - Magda Galloway

Here is a short video for you to watch about the importance of diversity in the classroom. The video from above was posted by Mary Donegan on Feburary 6, 2013. The song used in this video is "Wavin' Flag" K'NAAN.

          In my Ed Tech and Design class we meet for lecture every Monday and on one particular day one of the instructors Magda Galloway gave a lecture about Diversity in the Classroom/Media Influences. I found this topic to be very interesting because in the school I grew up in it was 98% Caucasian so I did not have much diversity in my classrooms growing up. Now that I am at UNI there are many different diverse groups of people. As I have grown up diversity in the classroom has always been a large topic. The media has always had something to say about diversity in the classroom weather it be good or bad. I believe that everyone should have the right to fair and equal education along with treatment in the classroom no matter your ethnic background. As a future educator it is my responsibility to promote diversity in the classroom to young and old while treating everyone equally. I believe a person should not be judged just by the color of their skin, and that they have every right to succeed just as much as the next person. 

          On my professional Pinterest I follow a particular page that focuses on how to incorporate diversity in the classroom. On this page you can find all different kinds of activities to do in class with students that have to do with diversity and so much more. The activities can be beneficial to teaching students to have a positive outlook on diversity in the classroom but also in society as they grow up. You can find the page called Kid World Citizenship on Pinterest at this link! https://www.pinterest.com/kidworldcitizen/

This is a a screenshot of some of the boards on Kid World Citizenship that focus on Diversity in the classroom. 

Technology Blogs

          Since I am making my own blog I figured I would check out some professional blogs that have to do with education and technology in education. While I was searching I found four blogs that I really enjoyed. The blogs are Cult of Pedagogy, Free Technology for Teachers, The Innovative Educator and Teach Junkie. All four of these blogs are super insightful for educators or anyone who is looking to learn about technology in education. These blogs talk about many other topics in education as well. Before I started making my own blog I never thought to look into professional blogs for tips and expertise on education, but a blog is a great way to gain new knowledge from others. One of my favorite blogs out of the four would defiantly be The Innovative Teacher because Lisa Nielsen the women who posts and runs this blog posts about how to make the classroom fun and interactive with the use of technology along with many other topics. When she was younger she thought school was irrelevant and boring. I can relate to Nielsen because as I was going through school there were times when I thought school was boring or not helpful to me so I want to be able to make my own classroom fun and interactive for students so they can enjoy learning. I also really like the blog Teach Junkie because the teacher that runs the blog puts up all sorts of fun activities for you to print off and use for free for all kinds of different event and subjects! I think blogging is a very innovative tool for people to post on, see, use and learn from.

This Blog is run by four different women but the Chief Editor is Jennifer Gonzalez
https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/start-here/

This blog is run by Richard Byrne.
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/

Lisa Nielsen is the teacher behind this blog.
https://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/

This blog is run by Leslie, she is a teacher behind the blog Teach Junkie.
http://www.teachjunkie.com/ 

You can find a link to all four of these blogs on my home page under Blog List - Professional as well as the link under each picture. 

Reading QR Codes

           When I was younger my mom would read me a bed time story every night before I went to bed so you could say I had a lot of books growing up. I loved reading as a child and still do enjoy reading for enjoyment from time to time. Since I someday hope to be a Kindergarten teacher I will have many picture books in my collection for students to read, over all kinds of different topics. In my own classroom someday I plan to read a picture book to my students everyday if time allows.
          With the help of the TA (Teaching Assistant) in my Ed Tech and Design class she helped me find this link on Pinterest where students can scan the QR codes on a phone, tablet or computer. When you scan the QR code it will direct you to videos online of people reading the book. Some of the books are even read by celebrities! For kids who may not have someone to read to them at night or might not have a particular book but want to hear the book can scan the code and have the book  read to them. It's as simple as that! I think this tool is absolutely amazing because I believe it is extremely important for kids to be read to as they grow up, because a child will develop skills that will be used for a lifetime.

This is what the QR codes look like. They show a picture of what book you are scanning and the QR code.
Found on Pinterest. 

You can find all kinds of different QR Codes on Pinterest all you have to do is type in QR Codes on  Pinterest and you have access hundreds of different picture books!
This is the link to the Pinterest login page https://www.pinterest.com/

7 Ways Technology is Impacting Modern Education

          When I was growing up in school technology was not something that was used as much as it is today. In my schools the teachers would use Promethean Boards to write on rather than your typical whiteboard. Every once and a while students were able to use them during class time if the teacher was doing interactive assignments with the entire class. Today though technology is something that teachers and students rely on to learn and do in the classroom. I believe technology is a great resource for teachers and students but I also feel that there are instances where our society has become too dependent on technology. Overall though I do believe technology with continue to have a positive influence in education. In an article from The Tech Edvocate it talks about "7 Ways Technology is Impacting Modern Education."

This article was written by Matthew Lynch on March 4, 2017
Check out the article at this link!
http://www.thetechedvocate.org/7-ways-technology-impacting-modern-education/

          In the article it states that "technology can actually be a major tool, both in terms of pedagogical resources and in terms of connection with the younger generation." The top seven ways according to this article to examine and understand for the use of technology in education are as follows active engagement with the learning material, use of real-world issues, simulation and modeling, discussion and debate boards and forums, working groups, coaching and lastly formative assessment. From this article the reader can better understand how the use of technology can be a positive impact on the education of students. For each of the seven resources there is a short explanation of how the resource helps students learn through the use of technology while also giving an example of how teaching students with particular aspects of technology can be helpful to their success. I believe education will pave the way and be a positive aspect to student success in and out of the classroom in the near future.