3 - Teaching Tech and Newsletter

When I am a teacher in the future, I'd like to incorporate many of the technology resources found in Ch. 9 of our text. I would like to teach high school level and above, so I expect my digital native students to already have a basic understanding of the web and common software applications. Students and parents will be able to email me for any questions or concerns. I may also want my students to post entries online in a blog or discussion board. I'll need to reinforce digital citizenship standards in order to ensure that the students use the resources correctly. Concepts such as citing work, professional and encouraging posts to other students, and avoiding plagiarism will all be constantly held in high regard. Applications and online resources are always evolving and it will be interesting to see what is available as my career progresses. 

ELA technology standards include online resources and presentation tools. I feel comfortable in teaching students about online discussion boards and online interaction. I’ve used these resources in the past and I believe that I can teach my students about their proper uses. However, I need to investigate other resources further before sharing them with my students. There are websites and applications, like Prezi, that I am not as familiar with. I wouldn’t be able to teach the options and opportunities with such online tools because I am not well practiced with them myself. 

The ELA Standard "RHST.7 Multimedia: History/Social Studies" is the standard that I would feel most comfortable teaching. I would be confident in using videos, maps, and online resources to further emphasize certain aspects of my History class. The specific standard that I would struggle with the most would be W/WHST.2 “Write to explain/inform”. I am not familiar with teaching students to write and get their own ideas across to an audience. I would need to practice my writing instruction techniques.

Lastly, I'm not going to lie -- I didn't enjoy the newsletter assignment on Word. As I was completing the assignment, I kept thinking about how much easier it is to arrange things on Powerpoint and other applications. I did, however, learn more about changing columns on Word. I learned that I can go back and forth and change the number of columns throughout the document with the "more columns" feature and the associated options window. Despite my hesitations, I think everything worked out with my newsletter… Even if it’s not quite “Best in Show” quality.