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