Learning experience in #UAEdTech

I used prezi to create my learning experience in Education technology. I used Prezi because I have never used this app before and I thought that it was time to use it and see the results. It is very popular also and I wanted to see how creative I can be.
The biggest take-aways from #UAEdTech is that, as I said on my prezi document, I had to organize my time very good and remember I had post to do and put them all on-line on time. I took six more classes so I had many things going on this semester and I had to be careful with this class since it was the only on-line class. I really liked to post my blogs on-line because everyone can read them and give me feedback. Also, I loved to read other's people post and get ideas for my future class.
I plan to incorporate educational technologies in my future classrooms in many ways. First of all I learned that having a educational blog is a good idea for parents to follow my thoughs and they can also give me feedback. I can upload also the homework students have and parents can make sure they do it at home, with or without them.
I will also use the cool tools I used in this class. I learned that using cool tools children can have fun while learning. It is not gonna be about reading books, memorizing and taking exams. My class is going to be about having fun while learning.

I recommend this class to other students since I learned many things with it. If I have to describe this course it would be: use technology, be creative and inspire your students. 

Here is the link of my summary of learning! Hope you all like it!

https://prezi.com/scbulyugjvsb/edit/#1_24309637

The end is just the beginning. MAJOR PROJECT 7

I am really happy with this project. Honestly, I thought that trying to high jump was gonna be complicated. When I set my goal I thought it was gonna be too high for me. But I mean, I don't wanna conform myself with something small. Go and get it!

I have to say that I achieved my goal by far. This has been possible first of all thanks to Claudia who has taught me everything I know about high jump. Also my coach Tomek that gave me some advices when watching videos of myself. Also, I think I worked hard because I wanted to know how high I could go. Same with long jump, I love to long jump but I want more and more always and I want to know how far I can jump.

This week has been great practicing. After some weeks doing this project and practicing 3 times a week the improvement was great and to my surprise fast!

I struggled so many times and I wanted to quit. As so many times, when we learn something new, it is not easy. Everything takes a process and struggles come and the idea of quitting is in your mind all the time. But come on let's be strong and remember why we start new things!

What did I learn doing this project you may ask. Well I learned that if you want something, go and get it. Do whatever is in your hands and you'll see how far you go. I learned that also you have to believe in yourself even when nobody does. The most important thing, you should trust in your coach/ friends that guide you to achieve whatever goal you want to achieve.

Finally, I could not be happier since I achieved my goal! Well I jumped even more! So I can say I am really glad with this.

As I wrote on my first post, high jump is something I wanted to do since I was little. Now because I took this class I had the opportunity to try and feel something different. It just feels awesome.

Again, I am really happy I had to take this class since because of this, I learned something new.

Now, this is not the end, this is the beginning of something new I have to take advantage of.

Everything you want, go and get it. Work hard, be patient and love what you do.

happy. MAJOR PROJECT 6

So I can say I am really happy with this week. I jumped really well in long jump these days. I mean that I practiced really good on my technique as well as in competition. I am injure since forever but now the pain is not as painful as last year so every time I practice better and better.

This happiness gave me the motivation I needed to jump well in high jump as well.

This week I practiced three times, all of those practices after my "real" practice. So, I was a little bit tired since one of my real practice was running 8 sets of 100 meters with just 45 seconds of rest. After this workout I was pretty dead so for my practice of high jump I watched videos of Texas Relays 2015 where Claudia did school record again jumping 1.87meters.

Since we both speak in Spanish we were talking really confident with each other and like really deep. She was explaining to me what she did well, what she did wrong and how can she change the negative points as well as maximize the positive points.

It is really awesome to hear from her. You can feel the passion she has for high jumping and how much she knows about it...it's crazy!

I guess we are from Europe and we are really technique and we see all the mistakes really easy when we jump. I think that at the end of the day this is so good because we can improve so much!

For the other two days, I jumped really good! The first day I jumped 1,35 and the third day of practice...I did Personal Record so I am so happy.  I freaking jumped 1.40 meters. It sounds like nothing for a high jumper but for me it is really good since I have never jump high jump!

For both days I warmed up like always ( I don't really like to change my warm ups, I like to do everything in the same way and maybe order too) and then I put my spikes on.

In fact, I was warming up and I felt great since the beginning so my mind was in a really good mood. Positive and motivated I would say. 

Since I felt great I thought " ok Ana today can be a good day so let's enjoy and jump high, let's break some bars!". I started to jump and at the first jump I jumped 1,35meters so I was like ok if I jumped this height on my first jumo that means that I am gonna jump really high today!

I just kept jumping and feeling great so I jumped 1,40meters and then I decided to stop because I was really tired and I wanted to save the energy for another day. Who knows... maybe next week I jump so much higher!

I can say I am really glad I am doing this project. I love to learn new things and of course, never stop getting better!

As Bo Jackson says, "Set your goals high, and don't stop till you get there." 

So close. MAJOR PROJECT 5

This week I practiced three days. I am so happy because I am really close to achieving my goal. I remind you that my goal is to jump 1,35 meters. I said I am close to my goal because I jumped 1,30 meters. That means that I just need 5 more centimeters. And I said I am happy not just because of that. I have still 5 weeks left to work on this project and just 5 more cm to jump. That means that probably I will jump more than my goal, which it would be amazing!

This week I jumped twice and I ran another day.

The days of jumping I did pretty much the same. As I always do, I warmed up (jog 6 minutes, stretch and drills) and then I put my spikes on.

Then, I counted my approach and I put a tape on the floor just in case I forget about it. The most stressful thing in the world is the fact of about to jump and don’t find your start mark! Then I jumped for two hours and in the middle of jumps I did some specific drills according to the mistakes I was doing. It is always fun actually. It like I don’t know what I am doing but at the same time I learn so it’s cool! I also don’t understand how some people can jump as high as Claudia does!

Anyways, I jumped really well these two days, for me of course, and I am happy. Hopefully next week I can jump my goal!

Regarding the third practice of the week, I had lifting and sprints. You don’t need to be like Usain Bolt to high jump but you need to be faster than a turtle. So I did some sprints with the high jumpers. I don’t need to run sets of 300 meters cause I need speed and no resistance. I ran 6 sets of 40 meters. I was pretty good since I am sprinter too. After this workout, I saw videos with the high jumpers about my last two practices and they taught me some keys to jump higher! Basically they told me that I have to imagine myself touching the sky or the roof or whatever. Doing that I will raise my hands higher and that would help the whole jump. The other example that a teammate gave me was that I had to imagine bills of 100 dollars floating in the air. Higher bills of 200 dollars, higher 300 dollars bills and like this.  So the higher my hand goes, the greater the bill! That was pretty funny but those examples are actually the best to explain some exercises. 

The thing that I learn of this week is that first you have to believe in yourself as well as in your coach and workouts. I can see the light basically. I see that if you set a goal and you plan how to get there, you can achieve whatever it's in your mind.

Getting close. MAJOR PROJECT 4

This week I practiced three days, on Wednesday 11th, on Friday 13th and finally, yesterday which was Monday 16th.

This week was different than the other weeks because Claudia and Tom were not in Akron so I couldn't practice with them. They were at the NCAA Track & Field Championships and actually, Claudia did personal record placing second with a jump of 6 feet 2 inch! I can't believe she is second on the nation!

Moreover, I was watching the meet through a web page and I recorded the video! The funniest thing is that I recorded the video and I posted it on my Facebook. Then, a guy that I personally know took my video and he uploaded on his Youtube page. Later, the Spanish Track and Field Federation used MY video through his post on Youtube. I talked to them because this is my video and all right, I am not going go to denounce anyone but other people can do it and someone can ruin them since that's ilegal. It impressed me because we talked about copyright two weeks ago and now it happened to me. Here is the link to watch the video. If you turn up the volume you can hear with no problem my voice saying a :"noooooo". I was like I can't believe she jumped that!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiLapFxjIO0

Since they were gone from Tuesday 10th until Sunday 15th, I practiced on Wednesday by myself and on the 13th I practice with the others high jumpers. Finally, yesterday Claudia had day off but she came to the field house so she could watch me and correct mistakes.

Basically, on the 10th I jumped just for fun. I felt like I was doing so bad but I was having fun! I jumped like 10 times and I recorded all of them so as soon as Claudia is here we can watch them together. I warmed up and then I put my spikes on!

The 13th was really fun since I warm up with all the high jumpers! I did specific drills and exercises. We used a lot short hurdles to do technique exercises. Then I did lifting with them as well and I did exercises like hang clean, power clean and squats. In between we always do transition exercises and they could be box jumps or with the bar in your back, jump really high and fast.

Later we did sprints. I ran 40 meters, then 50 and then 60 meters all twice.

Yesterday, I watch the videos with Claudia and Tom. Tom said I can improve a lot and Claudia too so I am happy for that! We saw some mistakes and they told me how I can fix it. The main problem was, again, that I kick the bar with my feet! I pass the bar all the way with my back and then I kick it with my feet. They told me to focus on that so I set the bar really low so I can do it exaggerated! 

This week more and better! 

Flying high. MAJOR PROJECT 3

Music plays an important role on an athlete. At least every time I have a meet everyone put their headphones on when they are about to warm up. Same on practice, almost everybody on the team use their iPods, phones or whatever they want to use to listen to music. In my experience, I always play music when I warm up as well as in a meet because it gets me excited. So, that's the first thing I did this week because I wanna be motivated to achieve my goal! Play some music, motivate myself and ROCK IT. 

This week I practice three times. I always practice after my "real practice" is done. Doing this,  I prevent any kind of injury or negative effects in my long jumping. I have to make sure I keep healthy for outdoor season. 

Thursday 5th was the first practice of the week. Then, I practiced on Saturday 7th and the last one was on Monday 9th. I did the same kind of practice for all these days. For everyday I warm up in the same way. In competition and on practice. Doing this I can have the same feeling always and I can know what is wrong and how can I change it. This is an example of a warm up:

- Jogging 6 minutes

- Stretch in movement and stretch sitting on the floor during 10 minutes. 

- Drills for 25 minutes. Everything really active.  Here I include high knees, " buttkicks" , exercises with hurdles and all kind of aerobic stuff. 

- Technique exercises. That means really specific exercises by doing so many repetitions of a exercise and looking for mistakes. I use cones and small hurdles to do these kind of exercises. 

After the warm up, I put my spikes on. Actually spikes are really important to jump. Is like the key you need to open the door of your house. Every event in track is different. Really different. It is actually the reason of my passion. It is one sport that combine different events: throws, jumps, distance and sprints. All right so every event need a special shoes. You cannot use the same kind of shoes for jumping triple jump than long jump or high jump. You don't use heels to go to the pool or you don't use flip flops to go to a wedding. It is the same! I need good shoes to jump well! So I am changing my long jump spikes for high jump spikes! The main difference is that in the high jump spikes there are 4 spikes on the hill and the sole is thicker vs just spikes on the front and a thin sole. 

           <-------HIGH JUMP SPIKES

LONG JUMP SPIKES ---->

Once I put my spikes on, I counted the steps of my approach and I left a mark on the track. Doing this I know where I have to start jumping all the time. If I make mistakes, I would have to move the mark.

I took a few jumps just to try how I was doing. 

The first day I use to arch my back very well but I always kicked the bar with my feet. There was no way to fix it! The first and second day, I was able to jump 1,25 meters already and I didn't kick the bar with my feet. This was thanks to Claudia's advices and because of the videos she showed me. I record myself and then we compared the videos with her videos jumping. It was really fun! 

I spent around 10 hours this week practicing. It sounds a lot but watching videos and talking about my mistakes and how can I improve is practice too. I am proud of all the work and now I just have to keep working so I can FLY HIGH!

NEVER STOP GETTING BETTER

practice, practice and practice. MAJOR PROJECT 2

I spent this week around 6 hours just practicing. I didn't jump all the time of course! I had shin splints for a while so I am taking it easy.

Practice does not mean just to do exercise. So many people think that practice means going to the weight room and lift all the time. It's funny that when people ask me: so... do you run all the time every day? I am like nope! track doesn't mean just to run! There are throws, jumps, races... I just don't run or jump for practice. Of course I run and jump but I also watch videos of another athletes and I watch my own jumps as well of practice and competition. Doing that, I can analyze the technique, see mistakes as well as things that I do/did good. With that, I can correct the mistakes and maximize my strong points. 

This is what I did half of the time this week. Claudia and I met at the track and she showed me a lot of videos. Some were of herself and some were from different athletes of the world. I have to say that

I never practice by myself. Claudia meets me every time I need to practice. Moreover, my coach join us always that he can make it. I really appreciate it because they are the ones who can explain to me the best idea about high jump, how can I jump and what is the best way to achieve my goal. 

This week I learned the exactly steps that my approach is going to have. First of all they explained to me the bases of the approach and then I tried the approach. 

They told me I cannot have a long approach because I will get tired really easy. I cannot have either a short approach because I am not a pro and I cannot jump high without speed. So, I need a approach that give me enough speed to pass the bar as well as a not long approach, so I can save energy. Saving this energy, I will jump more times without getting tired. 

Also I learned how to run my approach. High jump has a really weird way to run before jumping. High jumpers run in curve and then...JUMP! It sounds easy but I really think is the most complicated part about high jump. They tough me that I have to do two long steps in the middle of the approach. It will give the energy I need to pass the bar. And why? They explained to me that after these two steps, the body has a good strength, better than usual, so the speed increases and I am more powerful. 

As I explained on my first post, my goal is to pass a bar (1.35 meters) and to achieve it I need to figure out every step. The first one is to have a good approach. Once I got it, I can move on. This is like a math problem. You have to figure the first step out to get the final solution. If you don't know how to do 2+2, you cannot do 3x5. 

And the good news is that, after a long two practices watching videos and running, I GOT IT!

I am ready for next week and I can't wait to start jumping!

Learning something new. MAJOR PROJECT 1

I am a Spanish long jumper. I have been practicing track & field since I was six years old. I started to compete in a  high level when I was fifteen years old. Sports works different in Spain than in the U.S. Education and sports are not related to each other. I used to go to school and once I was done there, around 5pm, I drove where my club practice. Back home, I start to practice every day around 6pm. Sounds late but for us it's kind of normal. Just think that Spaniards eat dinner around 10pm... Now make sense right? Anyways, track and field is my passion, it's my other half. It is not my life tho. I know I cannot depend of a sport. However, I do love it because track has given me the opportunity to meet incredible people as well as travel, and the most important one: living the american dream.

I am an international athlete. I represented Spain in the I European Trials in Moscow, I Youth Olympic Games in Singapore as well as European and World Youth and Junior Championships as well as Under 23 Mediterranean Games in France. The most important thing, track is making me the person that I am today. Strong, brave, hard working, with perseverance and patience.

When I was little I tried every event and then I saw that I was pretty good in long jump as well as in sprints. Because of this, I just focussed myself in these two amazing events.  However, I have always had the feeling of trying high jump. It is a event that make me feel really excited and I always wanted to try it. I couldn't because I was good at long jump and my coach did not allow me to try high jump just in case I got injure. 

Since I have the opportunity to learn something new, I pick how to high jump. It is a really good time because my coach here in Akron was a high jumper. Also we have on the Akron Track & Field team the current number one on the nation. Now it's the time! I know I am not going to jump 6 feet but I want to learn the basic concepts. My goal is to jump around 4 feet 35 inch. 

This week I practiced twice a week. The first day was on Tuesday and the second practice was on Thursday. We based the first practice by talking.  My teammate and my coach explained to me some key terms: the technique that I should use, how many steps my approach is going to have, the speed that I should run, how to arch my back and how to hold my feet on the air. They want me to have the perfect idea of high jump instead of jumping. In the second practice I did some exercises on the high jump pad as well as with hurdles. 

Here I leave a short interview of my teammate Claudia Garcia Jou. She is currently number 1 on the Nation in High Jump Division 1.

- What means to you "high jump"

- High jump it's not only my passion. Throughout my whole live has become an essential part of my live as well. High jump is one of the first things that I think of when I go to sleep and when I wake up in the morning. It means challenging myself, setting goals, getting better and over all, personal growth.

- How many days do you practice in a regular week? What do you do on practice?

-I practice every day of the week except for Sundays, when I give myself some time to relax and get recovered from the week. My workouts are focused mainly in two points. Leg strength and technical skill development. This means that some days I lift at the weight room in order to gain the strength that I need to assure an explosive takeoff. Whereas other days I can spend the entire workout doing drills that resemble the different phases of the high jump, like the approach, the takeoff or the flight.

- If you have to give me a advice to achieve my goal. What would you tell me?

- Besides following an appropriate workout plan that includes weight lifting and technical development, I would definitely work on what they call invisible practice. Don't get obsessed with your goal, take some rest periods when needed, eat healthy, trust your coach and what is more important, enjoy every single jump! It's amazing how your running technique can change when you feel happy and relaxed without even noticing it!

Be a productive teacher- week 13

There is no doubt technology help me become a more productive teacher. Technology helps me to be more creative. First of all, I can look on the Internet many ideas about...everything!
If I want to do some games in class with students and I feel like I always do the same, I can read blogs of professors and get some new ideas.
Also, as I have being doing for six weeks, there are amazing cool tools that will help me to capture the attention of my students.
I believe that History, Philosophy or Geography are classes that students don't like too much. Using these amazing cool tools I can create an environment full of creativity. Also, I explained in some of my posts that I will do activities with new apps and that sometimes, students will go in front of the class and explain to their classmates what they did with the tools, how and why they did it.
I strongly believe that they are going to improve their public speaking skills as well as communication and listen other opinions.

I will use tools like wordle, lucidchart or tagcrowd. You can see more information in my blog about these tools. But, I think that using these tools kids will have fun doing these activities because they will learn to respect turns, comment, give opinion as well as respect different points of view. Finally, my main using these cool tools is that they have to have fun while learning.

Another strong reason of why technology will help me become a more productive teacher is because I can save too much time. I do not need spend time looking for papers and grading or writing activities in a shit of paper and then make copies of it. Nowadays, it is really easy to have programs of grading or making activities. Thanks to technology I would be more productive since...Time is money!

Finally, not just as a future professor but as a student, technology helps me so much when there is homework or projects. When I always complain about my homework my parents always tell me that when they were students, they had to do everything by hand and that they used to spend hours doing their homework. Now, I can just open my laptop, open a word and write as much as I want. Then I just have to click "send" and my professor will receive my paper in seconds.

The fact of using technology benefits my personality by not just being modern but also by teaching students how to manage technology since nowadays, technology is something that is present in our daily lives. My students will see that I care about them and that I want to see them prepare for their future laboral.

USE TECHNOLOGY! IT'S A SAVE OF TIME :)

Blended learning

We have used blended learning really effectively in this class. I have to say that this has been my first on-line class and I was really concern about how this was gonna work. But the professor made everything really clear by making a presentation once a week and explaining all the content and activities we had to do. 

I didn't expect to learn as much as I am learning in this on-lines class. First of all, you just don't learn the content that professors explain. I have learned how to organize my time and to remember that I have to use my blog and post something new every week.

Also I think that it is really effective because if I have a question, I can e-mail my professor and I get feedback really fast. Moreover, other students can comment my posts and I can read different opinions. 

My philosophy on blended learning is that with technology everything is possible. I mean, I am taking a class and learning through a screen. There is no doubt that technology does not have limits.

The most striking things I take from Stacy's presentation is that for 2015 there is going to be online state tests. To me, this is really weird and at the same time awesome because back home (Spain) this does not exist. We have to go to the exam with our ID and show it to the professor when we are done with the exam so they can double check that we are not cheating. Maybe in some cities in my country use online exams but I do know not know anybody that has done it before.
However, I think taking this on-line exams are good idea because you can check with the book and notes. We have more time to prepare ourselves for the test. However, when we go to an important test we usually memorize everything and then, we do not remember the next day, which is stupid.

Anyways, taking exams at home or in class, the thing is never stop learning. 

Ethical concerns

There is no doubt that content filtering in schools has pros as well as cons.

First of all Internet filtering in schools prevents students from accessing inappropriate Web content. So, the internet filtering in schools is to provide a safe environment for students of all ages. As a future teacher I really like this because this give me confidence that students can use Internet without encountering harmful content.

As a cons, the filtering software that many schools use is usually created by private companies that decide what kinds of content should be filtered. This leads to sites being blocked or filtered that don't fall under the criteria set by CIPA. Finally, a 2003 study by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Online Policy Group found that even schools that use minimal Internet blocking and filtering software block many websites without harmful content. I think, this causes limits Internet access for students and teachers.

Regarding ethical issues around music and movie downloading, these problems  have been a controversial topic since technology allowed us to download everything we want for FREE!  People who work hard does not see any money. Actually, if I have a job and at the end of the month I don't see any money in my account...yeah I would be so mad as well. 

So, here is the problem. Singers, actors and writers, for example, work hard to achieve in society (mainly): entertainment, amusement, spectacle and diversion. And when you download their work on the Internet instead of going to the store...that means one thing. THEY DO THEIR WORK FOR FREE!But, when you download a movie we don't realize that there are people spending hours writing a book while you just go to Internet and download it for free. 

As a professor I will use information from different resources so first of all I will download all the content legal since I am a strong figure for them. Then, I will explain to them the copyright law and what is legal and what is ilegal.

I think that many professors think that technology is something too modern and that it will create a gap between student and professor. I had a professor that used to say he was against educational technology because it was creating a generation of idiots. She said that why are we gonna spend money in smart boards and laptops having book and pencil.

However, there are certain circumstances where the use of technology should be acceptable. In today's society every information is updated at the moment in the Internet and students can find anything faster. Technology is growing really fast and young people have to be ready to manage and handle technology once they leave the school.

Regarding personal information, I think that students like to know about their professors and telling stories they get more confidence with us. But that doesn't mean they need to know all my life. There is a gap called respect and we all should know what to tell and what not to tell. I believe they should know who are we, what we want for them, why being professor is so important to me and of course I ca tell my adventures and personal experiences as long as it helps them.

Regarding the role of the teacher in the use of social media I really think that we should say that they need to be careful. Many students don't want to listen what their parents say to them but they will listen to us. I will tell them that they need to be careful since everything they post in social media is seeing by everybody. Now, seems like every year students have social media earlier. How can we keep up with the legal age requirements? I think social media should ask for a phone number (parents) and maybe ask some questions about having social media. 

Regarding mandated reporter, I am aware of it. I am a person who is in contact everyday with children. I know that I am legally required to report when abuse is observed or suspected since I care so much about my students and I want the best for them.

Finally, I will deal with intellectual property in regard to blogs and online resources by checking at least once a month all the content my students post on line. I will have their passwords so I do not have any problem when log in.

The end is just the beginning

I am really happy with this project. Honestly, I thought that trying to high jump was gonna be complicated. When I set my goal I thought it was gonna be too high for me. But I mean, I don't wanna conform myself with something small. Go and get it!

I have to say that I achieved my goal by far. This has been possible first of all thanks to Claudia who has taught me everything I know about high jump. Also my coach Tomek that gave me some advices when watching videos of myself. Also, I think I worked hard because I wanted to know how high I could go. Same with long jump, I love to long jump but I want more and more always and I want to know how far I can jump.

This week has been great practicing. After some weeks doing this project and practicing 3 times a week the improvement was great and to my surprise fast!

I struggled so many times and I wanted to quit. As so many times, when we learn something new, it is not easy. Everything takes a process and struggles come and the idea of quitting is in your mind all the time. But come on let's be strong and remember why we start new things!

What did I learn doing this project you may ask. Well I learned that if you want something, go and get it. Do whatever is in your hands and you'll see how far you go. I learned that also you have to believe in yourself even when nobody does. The most important thing, you should trust in your coach/ friends that guide you to achieve whatever goal you want to achieve.

Finally, I could not be happier since I achieved my goal! Well I jumped even more! So I can say I am really glad with this.

As I wrote on my first post, high jump is something I wanted to do since I was little. Now because I took this class I had the opportunity to try and feel something different. It just feels awesome.

Again, I am really happy I had to take this class since because of this, I learned something new.

Now, this is not the end, this is the beginning of something new I have to take advantage of.

Everything you want, go and get it. Work hard, be patient and love what you do.

Cool Tool week 11!

The cool tool I chose for this week is TagCrowd. As on the website says, "make your own tag cloud from any text".

The purpose of this app is to put in order the  words to create a sentence with sense.

If you click on this link http://tagcrowd.com/ (where you can find the app), the first thing that you see is that you have to choose your text source among these options: paste text, web page URL, or upload file and then you would have to click in "Visualize! "

Also, under the text you are gonna paste you can find options. Here you can pick the language of text, maximum number of words to show, etc...

I chose to paste a test. In this case I pasted one of my favorite quotes about education which is: "The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows." by Sidney J. Harris.

It would be like this:

Once I click to Visualize the result would be this: 

I would use this tool in classroom very often! This tool is really cool to play some games while improving capacity of creativity. Kids will have fun by guessing the answer! 

I would create some groups of 5 people. And I will write something and once converted, they have to guess what is the real sentence. The group that wins create another sentence and they have to tape it on my computer and other groups have to guess it. The group that guess it, has to go to my computer and do the same. The group that guess the most sentences gain some extra points. 

I really think students will have fun and moreover they will learn how to communicate to each other since they have to give me a final answer. 

Regarding the TPACK: I will have the knowledge about the subject matter to be learned. I will prepare this activity really well and I will know when to use it. I do not want to use it every day since I want to make this game as something special. I want them so say " yes, today we are playing this game!" 

Also, I believe that teachers should set aims for students and interpret the subject matter. My goal using this tool is to create a fun environment within students, capture their attention as well as improve their creativity skills. 

Moreover, this is a great example of understanding technology. I will show to my students  how they can use this application since they have to use it in class. As I said before, they will pick a sentence and it will appear in the smart board since I will use a projector. Doing this, I will improve their skills not just in technology but communication and creativity. 

Finally, I will see after my first lesson if this is fun for them or not. If I see that children like it and that they work well together in groups I will keep using this cool tool. 

So, definitely, I will use this tool in my future classroom. Students will play and learn while having fun with it. They will learn also how to manage this tool as well as the computer. In addition, they will learn how to respect turns since the work is gonna be in groups of 4 or 5 people. They would have to conclude in something and give me one answer, not five. 

“We need technology in every classroom and in every student and teacher’s hand, because it is the pen and paper of our time, and it is the lens through which we experience much of our world.” – David Warlick

Formative Assessment

There is no doubt that assessment is one of the main keys in the classroom. As philosophy on assessment I would claim that by using formative assessment, we will find the most effective way to asses our students. With this I mean when we evaluate them with a grading period. 

I consider this method really effective because as a professors, we cannot just see where students need help or what content they need to improve but what content they need to maximize!

But as a student I ask, when we speak about assessments, do we just need to focus in exams and quizzes? All right, quizzes and exams give us a number and average so we can check if students study or not... But as a student, I experienced that this is not the best way to assess students. I used to study a lot from 4th grade to 6th grade. I memorized a lot and I swear I studied so much. Even studying hours, I did not get the grade I deserved because I use to get nervous and my mind forgot almost everything. Does it mean I did not study? Does it mean I don't care about the class? The answer for me, is clear: NO. 

Professors all over the world listen please, assessment means evaluate. Evaluate not just with exams but with activities, papers, projects! This way you can measure how much work students do and you can see their abilities regarding to find resources as well as presentation. 

Regarding EduCanon and PearDeck, I believe that these tools can help teachers to accurate data about students. As a professors, we are gonna have so many students and in my opinion, we have to be able to be organize and collect data really well. We cannot lose time by being confused. Basically, learning about these tools helped me to see that there are many ways to evaluate, or better, to assess students and get information about their abilities in specifics subjects as well as areas. 

Finally, I have to say that this is really helpful as a future teacher. I did not know abut these tools and I was wondering for a long time how I was gonna assess my students and what was the best way to get information about them and at the same time, not being wrong. Also, professors learn how students work, not just in class but their abilities, as well as know their strong and weak points. 

Cool Tool: MindMeinster

" Create, share and collaboratively work on mind maps with MindMeister, the leading online mind mapping software. Includes apps for iPhone, iPad and Android." (mindmeister.com)

As you can imagine, MindMeister is the tool that I chose for week number five. Last week I chose also a mind map tool and I really liked it. So I decided to investigate more about mind maps tools. I found these tools really effective in class. Students connect their ideas so much better through mind maps because there are key words and all the ideas are connected to each other mostly through narrows. 

Personally I loved MindMeister. This is not a simple tool. In almost every app you can pick the forms of the boxes and the colors as well as the size. But with this application, you can also add emojis. I don't know if everyone know what the word "emoji" means since it is a modern word. And I said this because I heard this word for the first time around two years ago. Emojis are icons about anything. I repeat ANYTHING. You can find not just smile, sad or surprised faces but houses, plants, animals and everything you can imagine. 

While I was creating my mind map and I saw I could pick emojis and put it wherever I wanted I got so excited. The mind map was gonna be awesome! Some of the he emojis you can find in MindMeister are: 

In total... 860 EMOJIS!!

Anyways, I know that children and not too kids text all the time and I know that they use this emojis all the time while texting since they have modern cell phones as iPhone or Samsung. All of the have emojis. 

Since I know they like icons I know that using this, they will pay more attention in class. They may think I am modern too so they are impressed! I don't know exactly what they are gonna think but I know for sure one thing: they will get impressed and they will pay attention more than if I don't use technology and modern stuff. 

So... This is the result of my project!

I chose how to tell an story because I am going to teach middle level education and I feel like my students should know how to tell stories as well as papers and homework. 

I would use this tool very often in my class. I think that mind maps are really effective when explaining facts and process. You can put order of events through narrows. Also you can write as much as you want.  

According to the TPACK, using this application I will cover every single point of TPACK. 

First of all, I will have the knowledge of the subject to be learned. As I plan to do, I will prepare my classes before teaching. Every student deserve a good education so I will prepare myself more than anyone.

Secondly, I will set aims for my students and at the end of the class, I will check if I achieved the goals by asking questions. Also, teachers should know about the tool. I mean how to use it, when to use it and with who. You cannot use the same mind  map with 5 years old children than with 13 years old. Regarding the age, I think this is a effective method because it will help to develop a better process of teaching and learning.

Thirdly, this is an awesome way to keep in touch with technology and grow up as a student. Once I show them my project, I will explain to the how they can create their own mind map. Doing this they can use it in class but also at home! My plan is that at the end of the lesson they have to be able to create a mind map. I will assign them topics and they will have to present it in front of the class. Moreover, I will grade it. 

I think this is a good idea because I will improve their public speaking skills as well as creativity in group. All opinions matter here since there is a group and not just a single person. 

At the end of the expositions, I will see if this is actually effective. I believe it is going to be effective but I need to prove it. Obviously, if I see that kids talk to each other about another things and they do not work, I will not work in class with this tool anymore. But I think everyone should try it! Every class is different. Every class is a different world!

Finally, students play with technology by using this tool. They will learn how to use a new application. Consequently, they will learn a new thing and I remember you that learning is a incredible thing. Also, children are going to work in class and they are gonna see that people think different and opinions are really important. They will have to work together and set a conclusion. Moreover, I am sure they will have fun together, which it will increase the participation and ambition. 

You can find the tool right here: 

https://www.mindmeister.com/es#

Learning space and GAFE

Wherever you study affects the learning process in one way or another. It is clear that you are gonna focus more in a room, with good light and a clean desk that in a coffee shop full of people making noise. You may focus the same, but of course the speed of understanding the content varies. 

Same happen with children. If they are in a good environment, fully of tablets, games, funny books, and they have toys to play with each other, they are going to get involved very well. At least better than if they are in a class, sitting in their desks and listening to the professor, being the action passive. 

Also, as a future professor, we all have to remember that the school is not the only place where children learn. Every kid has a family. Every family is like a different world. Kids learn at home everything and then, they show it in class. 

I'm gonna tell you two stories. The first story is about my learning process in my childhood. I have to say I feel the luckiest girl in the world regarding my family. I have six siblings and my parents are still together after 30 years of marriage. I say still because seems like everybody gets divorce and it's normal. Actually the unusual is to see a marriage during more than 3 years. Mass media have spread the myth of the "happy" marriage and divorce as a remedy to cure all ills. Basically, marriage has been placed in the category of the "disposable".But, anyways, they supported me in everything I have done. We all helped each other and if I had a trouble in school, they would help me always. I had trouble in junior year high school with math class and I had a tutor coming home every Tuesday and Thursday. I know I had a good environment because my parents taught me how to be a good student. This environment of support from my parents, created an engagement with my study and at the same time, did that my learning process was easier as well as better. I knew what to do and at the same time I was having fun!

However, I had a teammate that was failing so many classes and I asked if he needed help. I knew he was smart because a year ago of that, his GPA was almost 4. He told me their parents get divorced and since that, he was depressed and suffering anxiety. He thought he was the cause of the divorce. This demotivation and the bad situation at home caused on him to have bad grades. It could be say that his environment had a negative effect so his learning was slow and not effective in class. 

So, since every kid has a different environment at home, as a future teacher I feel like I have to encourage every single student to learn. We don't know what's going on at home so many times so I have to make them feel special EVERY SINGLE DAY, WEEK, MONTH AND YEAR.  

Google Apps for Education plays another important role in the learning space. 

First of all, google has apps like "gmail" or "streamline your class" that help the effectiveness of a teacher's work in some many ways. For instance, with "streamline your class" you can create, share and grade assignments with ease. That helps to keep classes organized and as a consequence improve the communication with students. This, will create a better learning process since the communication between student and professor is really powerful. Also, google apps have a app called " meet face to face". In this app you can connect any time via video, voice or text. I really think this is great because if some student has a problem, you can connect with their parents and fix the problem. Students will valorize this by seeing that the professor actually care about them. Again, this will help to a better development of learning process. 

As a challenge I would say to play more in class with technology. We all talk about how technology will help in class and that our students will be so much more productive. But then, we are still teaching with the same method! Let's do whatever we actually think and do it!

The University of Akron approach the design of informal learning spaces very well. As we can see on campus, every building has an area (common area, lobbies, residence hall, and classroom building) with some several computers kiosks or carrels. This makes everything easier because sometimes, we need to print something or look some information on the Internet and thanks to this, we can always find an answer to our questions. And well, of course we have the library. I am from another country and I thought that those libraries that we always see are just...in movies! You know, a huge library with the famous shelves full of books and the typical couple making out. Well I haven't see the last one yet but maybe some day... Anyways! I can say that informal learning spaces on UA campus align very well my needs and expectations as a learner. UA care a lot about students and try to make us feel confortable and helping in everything, for example, by building spaces were everyone can use technology, gather and have some fun!

Cool Tool 3: Lucidchart

For this week I chose the cool tool " Lucidchart"

Lucidchart is a "web-based diagramming software which allows users to collaborate and work together in real time to create flowcharts, organisational charts, website wireframes, UML designs, mind maps, software prototypes, and many other diagram types"

The first picture that we see as soon as we get into the webpage is this: 

For the background you can see that the design is really cool and functional. As on the website explains:

"Works the way you do"

"Our application makes it easy to sketch and share professional diagrams. From barinstorming to project management, we support all of your communication needs. That's why millions of users choose Lucidchart."

"Place nice with others"

"Lucidchart is designed for the utmost compatibility with other programs, including Google Apps. We're also the only web app to offer complete support for Microsoft Visio documents. When it's time to export, choose from standard file formats or a convenient online viewer."

Since I love history and I will teach this subject in a school, I chose the "Human Evolution" and I worked this topic through Lucidchart. This tool is perfect for this kind of projects because you can use diagrames, lines, squares and arrows to connect the information. Hope you like my project: 

The cool thing of this tool is that you can add colors and use as many as you want! Also if you are done with the task, you can edit it and add more information. In my case, I did something really simple since my students are gonna be 7 years old. I will support this information by showing pictures and videos.

I would use the tool in classroom very often! This tool is perfect to explain facts and for example revolutions as well as process of...whatever! French Revolution, wars, photosynthesis, human evolution, evolution of technology... I really like it because you can connect the ideas through narrows and also is not just in black and white. You can add pictures, different colors and forms. actually, you can pick so many figures to create a text: circles, rectangles, polyhedra, octahedra, triangles..

Regarding the TPACK: I will have the knowledge about the subject matter to be learned. I will prepare all my classes and inform myself even more before every class so I can teach the content with no problems and be able to answer all the questions my students have.
Teachers should have a deep knowledge about this method as well as set aims for their students and interpret the subject matter. My goal with this tool is to explain the lesson in a creative form and gain their attention. Also since this is a effective method, it will help to develop a better process of teaching and learning.
Regarding Technology Knowledge, there is no doubt this is a great example of understanding technology. Once I am done with a lesson, I would like to show to my students how they can create a mind map. After explaining the process, they will work in groups and at the end of the class, they will have to show to the class their project. They will pick a topic and then explain it in front of the class. Doing this I will improve their skills not just in technology but communication with partners and public speaking. Also doing this I will prove if this tool is efficient for my students. If it's effective I will use it weekly, if I see that the effect is 0, I will try another and keep working until find one tool that gain their attention.

So, definitely I will use this tool in my classroom because students can play with technology and have fun with it. They will learn how to manage a new technological tool, talk to each other and give their opinions because at the end of the day, the work is gonna be in groups so they have to conclude in something and agree with it. Also they will explain the subject in front of the class so they will improve their public speaking skills. Students will challenge this! Just a few students like to talk in front of the class. A lot of children have fear to this so this can be perfect to encourage them to open themselves to the class.

You can find the tool right here:
https://www.lucidchart.com/rmb?utm_expid=39895073-135.IW6YHmzrShiLXMrSX9Rnbg.1

 USE IT, BE CREATIVE AND SHARE YOUR WORK! 

Cool Tool: WORDLE

The cool tool I chose for this week is "Wordle"

According to www.wordle.net, "wordle is a toy for generating "word clouds" from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to your own desktop to use as you wish. "

I chose this tool because I want my students to be not just smart and dedicated but also creative. I am a really motivated person who loves to remember why I do things and what do I need to achieve my goals. I have post-it all over my walls in one way or another.

I would use this tool in classroom with no doubt. First of all I will spend once a week to make a project with my students. I would put tables together and create groups of 5 people. I would make them to do a creative poster and every week I would give them a topic.

For instance:

Week 1: poster about what makes a team to work well and be efficient. They would have to think about different words and put it together.

Week 2: motivational words. I would put the best 3 posters on the wall of the class.

Week 3: what characterizes a good student.

I really think kids will have fun doing this activity. Also they will learn to respect turns, comment, give opinions as well as respect different points of view. But the main goal is to have fun while learning.

Since I am far from home and I don't know children in Akron, I did Skype with my nephew, who is 7 years old, and I explained to him this activity. I told him that he should think about words that describe a good student. This is the result:

Obviously, my nephew does not know how to speak in English so he sent it to me in Spanish. Here he says:

Study, do the homework, dedication, work, time, organization, respect, silence in class, listen to the teacher, help classmates, ask if I have questions, have fun.

As soon as I read everything I couldn't wait to ask him why he said respect and have fun. If you read my blog every week you should know I love the sentence "having fun". Well  he said: " respect because I have to respect my teacher", I said why and he said: because she is the one who teach me and just because of this, she deserves my respect." I FREAKED OUT

Then I asked why he said "have fun" he said: because you always tell me that if I have fun, everything is easier and better. I FREAKED OUT AGAIN!

Regarding the TPACK and my tool, they are related 100%. First of all, as a teacher I have the knowledge about the subject matter I am going to teach. The content to be covered of kids from 4th grade is different from kids of high school.

Secondly, with this activity I have goals as a teacher: have fun while learning. Make them think, be more creative and enlarge their vocabulary.

Thirdly, to use this tool I need to be in touch with...technology! They will learn how to manage this tool through a laptop, computer or tablet.

Finally, I will see the difference and I will understand ( or I hope so) how teaching and learning can change through using technology.

Students, at the end of the explanation, will be able to use this app to create their own digital media artifacts. If they don't learn how to manage it, I'll explain as many times as they need to achieve my goal: create a poster and have fun. It makes easy to use this tool because the task is very easy. You just need to tape the words you want to see in the poster and then, click in "go". Then you will see the post with the words you taped. Students will change in so many ways but the most important is that they will be more interested in class and they will learn how to pick words when every students think different. They will have to agree at the end.

You can find this tool in the following link:

http://www.wordle.net/create

HAVE FUN!