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For this independent learning project I completed a podcast about the formation and history behind the National Football League. This podcast is about the creation of the league and how it came to be about, not about the politics behind the game or the players that made the game. I got my information from the pro football hall of fame website:  http://www.profootballhof.com/football-history/history-of-football/ . The podcast application I used is called Audacity and it is a general audio editing app. The podcast had trouble uploading to the blog so I sent the instructor an email with the podcast attached.

I constructed this infographic using a template from the website shown above, called Venngage. This website where I got the template from is my only source because all the information in the infographic came from myself. This is my first time using Venngage and creating an infographic ever so it was interesting to discover all of the different design options. This infographic that I created is intended to be hung in a classroom setting as a guideline for the expectations of that class. To preview the infographic click on the link below. https://infograph.venngage.com/p/361952/5-happy-tips

As a teacher, I will use excel to calculate grades for a fourth grade classroom, rather than a pen and paper spreadsheet. I would also use excel for attendance to see who was in class and who wasn't and how many absences or tardies a certain child has. Excel calculates that type of stuff without the teacher, me, having to do any of the calculations or counting by hand. Through my classmates' blogs I learned how they viewed the class and how they decided to attack these blog assignments. The most interesting part was looking at everybody's first ILP because there were so many different directions that this project could've gone and it was interesting to see how everybody handled it. I also found it interesting to see all the different tools that my classmates would use in the teaching environment through the Teacher Productivity blogs because everybody has a different teaching style and it is fun to see what type of teachers my classmates will be. I would like to maste...

Classrooms are typically set up where the students learn the content from a teacher in the class and go home and work more on it by themselves through homework. A flipped classroom is when the students learn the content at home through a video presentation and come to the classroom for interactive and discussion purposes only. This flipped classroom idea gives students a chance to talk more with their classmates, rather than spend the whole school day listening to their teacher lecture. For an example of some educational videos click  here . Open education, open content, and open source software are all examples of how students can do things by themselves as long as they have access to a computer and the Internet. Open education, including MOOCs, is a way for students to expand their knowledge online with extra learning opportunities. Open content is a way for people and students to get together and collaborate on a certain topic because it is open online. And open source software...

Today I learned that most professional development tools for educators are the programs or conferences they can participate in. I learned how expansive Edutopia is and how much information they have available for teachers, because before I only knew Edutopia as a twitter account. Looking through my classmates' bookmarks I learned that there are places to sign up for these conferences online. I also learned from Ms. Ginny that teachers need a certain amount of professional development to continue teaching, which is why today's lesson is so important.

Last week I learned that adaptive technologies are technologies that aid students with disabilities so they can keep up with the rest of the class. Through my own efforts I learned that other people can learn from adaptive technologies, not just the students with disabilities, because the teachers also have to know how to use the technology and the other students learn how to behave when they have a classmate with a disability. The group presentations taught me that there are many different adaptive technologies for different disabilities (reading, writing, etc.). The group presentations also displayed that there are tools that can be used to help students with disabilities and students without disabilities alike, such as concept mapping tools. Through my classmates' diigo bookmarks I learned that there is a huge array of adaptive technologies which is something that is nice in today's world because it gives more people the same opportunities. I also learned that most adaptive ...

Adaptive technologies have helped teacher development and student development because they help students with disabilities learn the same lessons as students without disabilities. I haven't needed, nor have my classmates needed, the assistance of adaptive technologies such as a text-to-speech machine or a braille typewriter. These technologies are very helpful in allowing the student with the disability to keep up with the rest of the class who may not have a disability, however there are challenges to these new technologies. Most of these challenges come from determining the right technology to apply to a student with disabilities, then learning how to use that technology (both the teacher and the student). Technology has enabled more interesting learning opportunities for teachers because of the activities that bring teachers together online through social bookmarking, blogs, and Twitter. As a teacher, Powerpoint is a necessary tool to have in the classroom and to understand how...

Through my individual efforts I learned what Evernote is and how it can be helpful. Evernote is very similar to Diigo in that it is a social bookmarking site where you can put saved websites and the annotations to those websites in a safe place. You can also share these notes and websites with anyone you choose through Evernote online. Through looking at other people's bookmarks and annotations I learned that teacher productivity tools range far past social bookmarking sites. There are many ways teachers can keep in touch with parents (ClassDojo) without the students being involved. There are also plagiarism checkers and ways for teachers to make sure that students are doing the right thing. I learned about teacher productivity tools that I will likely use in my classroom one day.

Twitter so far has taught me that there are a lot more uses for it, rather than just scrolling through how your friends are feeling. There are many educational accounts and teachers on twitter sharing articles and facts about the education world. I have learned techniques and ways of the trade of teaching from these education accounts, such as Edutopia and Education Week, who tweet articles about how to become a better teacher. The benefits from twitter include the establishment of connections with other teachers and with good lesson plans for future educating. I have only just begun my website, but I have already learned that it is fairly easy to create a website and you can make it very personal. Having your own website as a teacher is useful to the parents to give them information about your class and to have a reference for them to make sure that their children are on track. I like how user friendly the weebly website is, but about the assignment itself, I don't like how op...

My first independent learning project is a prezi. I've never actually made a prezi before because in high school I always though MS Powerpoint was easier to use so that's what I used. This prezi is a short one about the urban school system and its problems and what we can do to fix them. I like prezi because of the zoom animation that helps the reader to focus on what I deem important in the presentation. I played around with the initial set up that I was provided from prezi by deleting some items and changing charts around and renaming the titles. I changed the colors around in some of the slides as well. I hope you enjoy my first prezi presentation and you can view it by clicking below. https://prezi.com/view/53dwCwqkTs5Prs1IS5Yn/

Jade Grassi, Brenna Carrigan, Gavin Clark Contrast: The contrast on Mrs. Savage's webpage is good. The main points of information are given in a black text on white background with the headers given in a white text with a garnet background. The titles are easy to differentiate from the actual information. Repetition: Visual elements are repeated throughout the webpage. The subjects are all given before the links to the information with the same fonts and same font size for titles and links, respectively. When Mrs. Savage presents the newsletters they are presented in a similar, chronological order which keeps it organized. Alignment: The articles that are similar are aligned to bring them together. The alignment on the webpage is good and organized because she separates it into two columns, one for the tabs for different information and one for the information itself. There is a consistent space between these two columns which makes the information easier to read. Proxim...

http://www.saintbridgetschool.info/my-sbs/teacher-pages/  This teacher class page is from Saint Bridget School in Massachusetts. The school ranges from pre-school to 8th grade. I checked out the two class pages for third grade and noticed almost identical set ups. Homework assignments, teacher info, spelling words, specials schedules, and hot links/resources are the main points available to whoever visits the class page. Both teachers have a link that takes the viewer to a paragraph or two about themselves as a person for the parent or student to see. One of the teachers includes a section for recommended books and the school calendar. Overall a very useful site for parents that isn't too revealing for the public's eyes. There are several different kinds of software that can be used in the classroom including productivity software and classroom management software which fall under a bigger category called administrative software. Productivity software assists teachers' ...

I have learned that Web2.0 covers a wide variety of websites and online tools and it would be hard not to integrate Web2.0 in the classroom. Podcasts enable students that are having a hard time learning a subject to listen to another teacher teach it in a different manner, perhaps, so that they can better understand that subject. Twitter, BlackBoard and now Canvas are all modes of social media that are prevalent in the classroom because they connect the student and teacher even when they aren't in the classroom. These sites expand students' knowledge of what school can be like outside of the classroom. Blogs have given students a new voice in writing. Blogs are less formal than essays and kids can have fun with them while still connecting to other students and writing about educational topics. Online classes have been shown to help students that have trouble focusing in the classroom and help involve students who like to work with technology, rather than sit in a desk and liste...

Web 2.0 tools are necessary for teachers to have in their classroom. I don't think there is one Web 2.0 tool that isn't useful in the classroom. Web 2.0 tools include, but aren't limited to Twitter, blogs, Youtube, and Diigo. A professional Twitter account for the students is a great way for them to connect to other students who are learning something similar in a different place. Blogs work similarly to Twitter and are more for the students to network and share ideas. Youtube helps teachers to find videos that help them teach a lesson or help to keep the students engaged so that the teacher isn't always the only one talking. Diigo can be used by teachers and students and is probably the best way for teachers and students to connect with each other to compare lesson plans, sources, and notes in order to make every classroom a better place. LinkedIn is an excellent Web 2.0 tool that is mostly used as a bookmark manager in the classroom. LinkedIn is a website for profess...

Just checked out a blog written by @JadeDGrassi about a lesson plan about penguins! Very interesting and I hope to instill it in my classroom someday https://t.co/Vpu6ra2A3B #FSUEdTech — Gavin Clark (@gavinclark30) October 3, 2017

Twitter is an awesome social media resource. In this course it has taught me that there are a lot more professionals using twitter than I originally anticipated. For example I have followed and retweeted several accounts and tweets, respectively, from professional sources including Eduporium and Politics K-12. These accounts are beneficial because they offer ways to enhance a classroom and make your students more informed. In the future I can reference accounts like these to make my classroom a fun environment with students who want to learn. The digital divide is the difference between those who have access to the computer or internet and those who don't have access. The digital divide affects students' success because those who don't have access to a computer or the internet are at an obvious disadvantage compared to those who have access. This is because those who have access can use the internet to find help with their homework or to turn in assignments online, whereas...

I'm aspiring to teach in the fourth grade one day, so I checked out the Florida Department of Education standards for fourth grade. The standard that stuck out to me was about interpreting information that is given orally, visually, or quantitatively. From there I chose a lesson plan resource from the CPALMS website called "Dance by the Light of the Moon". This lesson is intended to teach students about the phases of the moon by having them analyze charts and other information in order to schedule a Halloween party. The objective is to try and schedule a date in October where at least half the moon is out (for optimal lighting). The resource is fantastic because it is very lengthy and detailed and it is something that kids don't typically learn about in the classroom. This resource would be useful on a day where there are several kids missing from a class or if I ever found myself ahead of the curriculum guide. I like that the resource has plenty of questions for the...

The ELA standards I feel most comfortable with would include "Informational Text", "Multiple Sources", "Use Digital Media", and "Evaluate Points of View" because I have experienced the uses of multiple modes of media growing up in this age of technology. Other reasons I feel comfortable with these standards is because I previously learned about these topics extensively in former English classes. The ELA standards that I could use a little more help with include "Literature" and "Integrate and Evaluate" because I have a hard time evaluating and analyzing certain situations. In the classroom I would use technology to enhance my communication with my students and their parents. A way to do this would be via e-mail or phone call. As a teacher I would also use the internet to access portals so that my students can use different ways to learn a subject. Being a digital citizen is about being able to properly access the internet an...

              As a student I've used MS word to compose and turn in papers and projects. I've used it to copy down notes in classes using the note taking option and to accomplish classwork. Teachers use it to display a lesson plan or sometimes to show an excerpt from a passage that we later break down as a class, especially in English class.               In copyright scenarios, in my experience, we always had to put whatever we found in quotations and later site the source got that information from. In high school there was always somebody who was trying to cheat their way through an assignment by using somebody else's work on the internet and that is against the fair use of materials because they take someone else's work and call it their own. Teachers handle copyright and plagiarism very seriously so I, as a student, always had to make sure to avoid plagiarism by citing my works with a bibliography (again especia...

Hello, today I have created my professional twitter account. I've had a personal account for quite a while now and now a professional one is necessary for my EME class. You can follow me here  @gavinclark30 or https://twitter.com/gavinclark30.