Blog Post #3

   As of now, I feel most prepared to teach students the ELA technology standard W/WHST.6 "Use Technology". This standard has students use different forms of technology, including the Internet to produce and publish writing, as well as collaborate with peers. I feel most educated in this because I am very familiar with many different media platforms that can be used in schools such as Word, PowerPoint, Prezi, and many other ways information is presented. I also am certified in some of these applications, so I can aid students learning how to produce and present writings and information through technology. Since I really want to teach younger grades, I feel most confident in helping them with this standard, because at an early age social interaction, respect for peers, and collaboration are all big concepts that must be emphasized. I feel best prepared to teach these children to not only be good citizens in the classroom but also great digital citizens so they can have success in the technology-centered 21st century. One standard I need more education in would be L.5, "Vocabulary: Use of context clues". I have always learned context clues by just looking and examining the words around the word I didn't know the definition of, and I would be interested to learn more about technologies other than just digital text that would allow for students to use context clues to find meaning of vocabulary.
   Since my interest lies in the younger elementary school, certain software I would like to incorporate into my classroom would be learning management systems. Since the Internet is such a big network, it may be hard for younger students to navigate and find what is right, by having a LMS, a virtual classroom is created where students will find information and resources that will best enhance their learning. I would also want to implement an application like ClassDojo. Since behavior and social interaction is so important in the early stages of school, building a foundation for their behavior and attitude towards school for the rest of their careers, systems like ClassDojo will allow for students to find behavior management and motivating and engaging by using technology to track behavior. I also think introducing early elementary students to software such as email, keypals and instant messaging allows these students to once again learn polite, and friendly ways to communicate both in the classroom and online, since the world they grow up in is so technology focused.  The use of these softwares and applications definitely need to be paired with the teaching of digital citizenship. It is important for students to know what language is acceptable (i.e., no slang or abbreviations) as well as respecting what everyone else has to say just as if they were in person, to ensure the absence of cyberbullying among classmates and other students interacting in the digital world.
    The newsletter design assignment allowed me to construct something that is visually pleasing and easy for parents to read and know what is going on without being bored by paragraphs of information. I really liked being able to chose a layout, color scheme and place different articles to see what was most visually pleasing and easier to read. I really enjoyed to graphic design aspect and getting to integrate columns and charts. On the other hand, it was kind of hard thinking of what to right that wasn't to vague but also gave parents good insight of their children's learning without reading full paragraphs. I think as I continue to make flyers and other documents formatting and design will become easier and I will better get of sense of what to include in my newsletter as I gain experience and feedback from parents or other educators. My Newsletter is shown below!