Journal #6

      I went to the FSUS website, because I am completing my observations there and I thought it would be interesting to see what their website looks like. On the FSUS website, you have to go to Departments, High School, and then pick a subject (I chose English Department) and then I looked at a few of the teachers' websites. First, I went to the teacher I'm observing and looked at her specific website. On her website she gives a brief introduction to her students/parents of her students where she says who she is, her email, office location, and a short welcome message, as shown below in the screenshot. Without logging in, I can see the PDF syllabus for her 8th and 9th grade ELA classes, which are the grades and subject she teaches. She also gives the PDF of the school's Plagiarism Policy. Additionally, she has sub-pages to each class period she teaches where she provides a class calendar and any important links, which is also shown below in a screenshot. She also has an about teacher page where she gives her credentials and a short overview of herself. Her website actually provides more information than most of the other teachers in the English Department. Most of the teachers provide a short description of the class and an email to contact them. They don't have any other documents posted on their pages, at least for the public to see.

      I envision myself using technology in a few important ways to accomplish my professional responsibilities more efficiently and effectively. First, I will use technology to create all of my lesson plans using tools like PowerPoint or Piktochart. I will also use tools like VoiceThread if I know I'm going to be absent so that my students don't fall behind in the lesson plan. Second, I will use technology to post all homework assignments, like my teachers do currently on Canvas, so that my students can look in one place for all upcoming assignments and see the due dates, rubrics, and any other important material. I will also post them into a calendar for my students like the one shown in the screenshot above. I would do this so that my students can look at the month ahead and see the planned schedule easily. Lastly, I will use technology to communicate with my students. By this, I mean that I will be available to respond to any questions through email throughout the day and I will be able to send out emails to the class with changes in the syllabus or any other class-wide information that needs to be shared.

      During the trip to the Tech Sandbox, I think the most useful tools for a classroom were the interactive whiteboards and the 3D pens. The interactive whiteboards are extremely useful for both the teacher and the student. As a teacher, this is useful to present the lesson, whether that's through PowerPoint, a video, relevant quotes, or images. The perk of an interactive whiteboard instead of a normal one is that a teacher can draw on these. This allows students to see a visual progression of the lesson. For example, if a science teacher is lecturing on the parts of a flower, they can put an image on the interactive whiteboard and then write in the labels for the various parts. The other tool I think would be very useful is the 3D pen. This is a great tool, especially for projects or younger students. Younger students will be able to draw what they are learning, which helps maintain their attention and it helps them understand the complex concepts. In older age classes, this is useful for projects like a science fair. Students can use the 3D pen to create a visual representation for the concept being taught, which helps students process the material for in-depth learning. Below is a picture of a flower created with a 3D pen: