Post #6

Web Sites, Technology, and Web Site Evaluation

     When I become an English teacher, I am going to create a class website.  I think that it would be extremely useful and would especially help keep the parents connected to the class.  I would make the website fun and interactive and it would provide a place that I could put up links for any online homework assignments.  I would keep the homework assignments on the website so that students could always refer to it if they had any questions.  I think that it would be worth the trouble because students could refer to the website if they had any questions before asking me. 

     I will definitely use technology to maintain and further develop my skills as a teacher.  Through forums and websites, I will communicate with other English teachers so that we can pool our best ideas and projects.  I will use online sources to keep up to date with criticisms and analyses of novels so that I am teaching my students up-to-date information.  I will also search the internet for new novels that will be best suited to my students' needs.

     I did not particularly like the last assignment, Web Site Evaluation.  I was already aware of what to look for to make sure that a website is credible, so I didn't learn very much from it.  I also found that it was very difficult to write an entire page single-spaced about the assignment.  Most of it was common sense and hard to elaborate on.  I will not need to use a website evaluation as a high school teacher, as most students should already be aware of how to find a credible website.  

Post #5

Web 2.0 and Web Hunt

     One Web 2.0 tool that I find extremely useful and well-designed is Goodreads.  This website provides its users a place to keep track of books they have read, books they would like to read, and books that they are currently reading.  It allows the user to rate his books, write a review of the book, and read reviews written by other people.  The user can become friends with other users and view the books that they are reading and their comments on the books.  This website also has an app that can be accessed from any smartphone.  

    I would like to become an AP Literature teacher, so this website would be extremely useful for me in the classroom.  I would have all of my students create a Goodreads account, and we would all become friends.  I would require them to add each of the books we read in the class and write reviews on them and give them star ratings.  They would also be required to view their classmates' reviews and respond to them.  This website would be extremely beneficial because it would allow the students to engage in the material and make it more interesting.  

     Web 2.0 is very beneficial for K-12 education.  The podcast mentioned that it can be a very good tool for students to become actively involved in the material.  It allows students to take the material and think about it in a different way.  Tools such as Goodreads, Prezi, and many other Web 2.0 tools can exponentially help students in the classroom.  Not only do they become more involved, it is much easier to grab the students' attention and make them interested in the subject.  

     I did not learn much from the activity last week, Web Hunt.  Most of it involved simply typing words into Google and copying and pasting information.  I have been doing this from the time that I began using computers in Elementary School, so it was no new information for me.  Though I didn't learn anything, the skill of searching for data on the internet is a useful tool for a teacher.  There are so many resources on the internet that can exponentially benefit a teacher in the classroom.

Post #4

Web-based resources, Student Research, and Inspiration

      There are many ways to use web-based resources to support student learning.  I would like to incorporate powerpoint by having game show reviews that are interactive for the students.  I have participted in games like this in the past and they were a lot of fun and are a good ways to learn the information in a different way.  I would also like to create a class webpage.  This would allow me to make announcements, post class photos, and communicate with parents.  It would allow students to connect more to the class and feel as though they are a part of something special.  I would also like to incorporate PowerPoint by having the students present projects to the class.  Public speaking is an important skill to have and this is a very good way to slowly introduce students to it.  Finally, I would like to have students complete a webquest.  This is a guided search of the Internet for specific information.  The ability to search the internet is an invaluable tool in today's tech savy society, and this is a fun way to teach this skill to students. 
        The Internet can be a great tool for research sometimes, but not such a great tool other times.  Sometimes it is not useful because the quality of the information on the internet is highly variable.  Sometimes people completely make up information and post it on the internet, and it can be taken as the truth.  Another reason it isn't a good tool is because the text can be directly copied and pasted into a student's work.  Copywrite infringement is a huge problem with students' essays- many will not take the time to rewrite the information into their own words.  Though there are some problems with using the internet for student research, it can also be very useful.  It is a great source for an enourmous amount of information for students, and it is very easy for them to access. 
      In school work in the past, I have used various Internet-based resources.  I have used PowerPoint more times than I can remember, and this is an invaluable tool that I will use for the rest of my life.  I have used it for many presentations, and it has improved my public speaking skill exponentially.  I have also used web searches for research papers.  These web searches are very useful, but it can often times be hard to determine if information on the internet is valid or not.  My methods are similar to those in the podcast.
     I acquired many skills from the Inspiration assignment.  I used Inspiration in elementary school but since I haven't used it in so long, I completely forgot how to use the program.  This assignment was a great refresher and now I feel completely comfortable with it.  It will be useful if I ever need to diagram things for my students or if I end up teaching an elementary school class. 
    

    
 

Post #3

Website Critique, Open Content, and New Skills

     www.facebook.com is an extremely popular website that has become an extremely important networking tool in the United States today.  Rule 1: Facebook makes very good use of general design principles.  The sleek design and bright blue color allow students to remember it very well.  Rule 2: Facebook orients users very well.  The tool bar at the top of the page is extremely well organized with icons that clearly show users what they need.  Rule 3: The text is carefully justified on Facebook's page.  Rule 4: Facebook doesn't follow this rule very well, they use much more than three type styles.  Rule 5: Facebook sticks to the colors blue and white on it's page.  This follows rule 5 very well and makes the webpage memorable and not overwhelming.  Rule 6: Facebook does follow this rule as it sticks to its color scheme of blue and white.  Rule 7: Facebook is certainly enhanced with graphics and interactivity.  It is extremely interactive, as you can post things onto a personal page or comment on other people's activity.  Rule 8: Facebook doesn't eliminate extra items, as often times spam appears and adds pop up on the screen.  Rule 9: Facebook does use upper and lower case.  Rule 10: Facebook does keep text lines short. Rule 11: Facebook does use single spacing. Rule 12: Facebook does have a very simple, easy to use structure.  Rule 13: Facebook does limit the focus of the website.  It has seperate pages for a person's personal page, and then another page to follow other people.  Rule 14: Facebook makes good use of bold and italics.  Rule 15: Facebook caters to its audience and often times has games available and different features for different age groups.  Rule 16: Facebook doesn't use flashing text. Rule 17: Facebook does use lists.  Rule 18: Facebook does navigate consistently.  Rule 19: Facebook doesn't stack text.  Rule 20: Facebook does include multiple graphic types.  It includes list as well as pictures.  Rule 21: The screen is extremely organized.  Rule 22: The sizes of everything on the screen is relative to it's importance.
     I think that open content is not important to educators.  I think it is cheating the author of the work if their words can be used without due credit.  I would not contribute to open content materials and I would not use them. 
     I learned so much from this week's assignment! I think it was very useful for use in the classroom and I plan to make good use of this new skill as a teacher.  I had never heard of mail merge before and I think that is an extremely beneficial and worth-wile skill to have.