Online Meeting

During the first meeting, I was a little late to the meeting and was unable to see the beginning of the chat. In return, I was completely lost throughout the entire meeting. I was confused when everyone was in the middle of discussing their hypothesis and null hypothesis, then as soon as I started to feel as if I knew what was going on, the meeting ended. I did think the chat made me aware of how confused I intially was in the assignment and got me to work harder to complete the assignment. I could use online chat with students who are sick for an extended period of time or out due to some other reason. Professionally chats could be used during conferences or just as we did in this class, to discuss results of research I was doing with collegues. The standards 3 and 5 again were touched because I could model digital learning for students through these chats, also I am expanding my professional growth by learning news ways to communicate and analyze data.

Research Overview

At the beginning of the research project, I did not think the assignment would be that hard but in the end I found it very challenging!I installed the Data Analysis Tool Pack without a problem but really struggled when it came to analyzing the data. It was hard for me to understand the NSD when looking at the chart. I also stuggled with the terms when I compared the two equal variance. By stuggling with this assignment, I feel that I really grew as a professional because I grealty relied on disucssions from my peers and from works that they posted. The APA part of the assignment was not as bad but I also struggled working with the tables and charts. I could not figure out how they went with the paper. The NETS standards were standard 5 and three, because I both modeled digital learning that I could expand on and teach my class and engaged in professional growth because it took a lot of self-monitoring and self-teaching to get through this assignment. The APA style of learning is not going to go away and is a great resouce to know about for future assignments.

Audacity 2

For the Audacity assignment, I only created one blog and documented my entire process through the one blog. Looking back on all the assignments, I found this one to be the most rewarding and the one where I had the opportunity to fully express myself and demonstrate my creative side. I loved Audacity and would greatly enjoy using this with older students in the classroom. I think students would enjoy getting to express themselves and learning how to convert youtube videos to MP3 files. This project allowed me to engage, facilitate, and inspire student learning and stated in the first NETS standard. If students were to find their own videos through both the benderconverter and youtube, then they could express songs, artists, or themes that greatly effect their lives. Modeling digital age work as in standard 3 is touched through this standard also because this was a very rigorous process for anyone educator to complete but once it has been completed once, a world of endless possibilities are opened.

YouTube Account

I have had a YouTube account for quite a while now. I do not use it that much but it is still a nessity to have in today's society. I think by having a YouTube Account as a teacher allows me to find videoes that can be useful for the school and my classroom, convert them, and view them in my classroom. It also allows me to view ideas that other professionals are using and explore possible research or ideas. My YouTube user name is elopez102702. I generally only post videos if it is for school purposes, not for leisure. NETS standard 1: facilitate digital learning and creativity, is reached by having this account because students can create videos and with parent permission, post them online. This allows the students to broaden students worldly experiences. Also Standard 3 Modeling Digit Work and Learning because the students and I are demonstrating fluency with technology by uploading and downloading videos.

APA NAEP

I found the NCES site, which comparison educational statistics, to be very interesting. The site allowed me to look at national comparisons for 4th, 8th, and 11th grade, which is nice so teachers at all levels had something to analyze. I was very disappointed in WV rankings, but unfortunatly was not surprised. I downloaded the Excel document and began analyzing the data. I first had to unmerge the cells, then sort state data from largest to smallest, find our rankings and report on them while creating a scatter plot. I found our state and colored it red to stand out from the green data points. Then I created a t-test using equal variance and found no significant difference based on the findings. This data allowed us to accept the null hypothesis that boys are smarter than girls in 8th grade math. Learning this data will allow me as a teacher to reinforce that girls are just as good in math and try to teach girls this in my class. Also, I will try to raise standards in math class and try to improve on WV scores. By writing another APA paper, I am furthering my professional development therefore touching on NETS standard 5, professional growth and leadership because we are evaluating and reflecting on current research. Also Standard 3 Model Digit Work and Learning, by communicating relevent information to parents, students, and peers.

Get A YouTube Video

The assignment asked the class to find a way to download a YouTube video onto our computers then back onto the internet. I first Googled the same question and a YouTube video was the first link I was directed to go to from the web. The video then gave a tutorial on how to save videos onto my desktop using Keepvid.I simply copied the URL then pasted onto that site, saved on my desktop then convertered it to a MP3 file all on the same site, much easier then Benderconverter. By knowing these ways to save videos, I can use very useful videos in my classroom. There are plenty of useful and educational videos that are blocked from school use which is a shame because many do not know about these tools. In my professional developement, I can not only find more tools but share them with collegues and teach them how to use videos. By showing videos, I can facilitate and inspire learning as in Standard 1. I can enhance student learning by watching these same tutorials that may break through to some students which I could not in my teaching and this is a real world issue. A lot of jobs or assignments may be better enhanced by a video the students could find on YoutTube. Also, Modeling Digital Age Work and Learning will be completed by knowing this information because I will be able to communicate relivant ideas to peers, students, and parents through videos.

Midterm Self-Assessment

During Mid-term, I completed a self-assessment and up to that point I felt like I deserved an A because not only have I worked hard to complete all my assignments but I have learned a lot. I loved learning about the Youtube converter (benderconverter) and I also liked the Jing. I love learning new free technologies that could be used in the classroom. I think after completing this survey, I realized how important self assessing is and how it can be important for students to do in my class. If students are held accountable for keeping track of their own grades then I feel they are more aware of how they are doing in the class. By completing this survey the NETS standards that were address is standard 5 Professional Growth and Leadership because we were assessing everything we learned in this class therefore reflecting on professional practice. Also standard 3 Model digit-age work and learning because I will be able to transfer the information to peers, students, parents, and community members.

Millennial Age

When completing the millenial survey, I thought I was going to have a pretty high number but it only came out to 78. I think this is because I do not text or post that much on social networks throughout the day. I think I am pretty knowledgable about technology though especially in comparison to many older teacher in the system. I think this survey will help me realize how much I can help others in the professional community. I think many teachers do not even text so when it comes to using technology in the classroom I can contribute a lot. I think in the class, I could have my students complete the same survey to see how "tech savy" the students are that are in the classroom. The standards which would have been addressed would be Stanard 5:Professional Growth because the better we understand our own strong points and weakness the better we can grow. By learning areas in technology that we are weak in allows us to seak more education towards that area. Standard 2 because this is a type of digital assessment to better understand our students and this informs our learning and teaching.

Wordle

I have been attempting to enter text from a famous speech since September and FINALLY got one to load by placing in the URL from my blog. A wordle finally appeared! This assignment took determination and dedication. I have attempted to get this Wordle to form on various computers but the image was never supported until now. I love Wordles in the classroom too because it allows students to see a new way to express themselves. The students could use this activity as a getting acquainted activity for the beginning of school. This could also be a good activity to be displayed after students write speeches for a class.

APA Paper

The APA paper was designed by collaborating with fellow classmates and using the Owl at Purdue website in order to write a "trial" research paper. The paper comprised of the procedure, method, results, and a table which displayed results. The paper was a little confusing to write because I was still confused about the standard deviation and the significant difference based on the T-test. This paper will help me for future professional developement because I will have better knowledge on formatting my papers that are completed for professional developement or school purposes. I will also be able to better help my students with citing papers they may need to submit in a Special Education classroom. The paper helped me learn how important it is to have peers to collaborate with and learn from when completing challenging assignments. The NETS standards is standard 3: Model Digital Age Work and learning because by learning better ways to communicate research, we can transfer knowledge of this and hopefully using new technology. Also we are comminicating effective ideas and research through Action Research Projects. Standard 5: Professional Growth and Leadership is another standard we are meeting because we are demonstrating self-renewal in teaching by relearning different ways to display data.