Summary of attendance

I think using webinars and a teacher could be a very interesting thing to use for parents. I can just see how many possibilities there are to communicate about what you're doing in the classroom and in the curriculum. 

 Mrs. Williams led a seminar discussing smart boards in the classroom. Most of us attending the seminar were familiar with smart boards as we grew up with them in the classroom. We examined the smarttech.com website where we learned new methods and tricks when using a smart board. We also watched and discussed tutorial videos on this website. I know now more about smart boards than I did before this seminar. 

I went to the workshop where we learned how to create a google site. I learned about two types of sites to use on google. I can use this in my classroom by having a classroom website where my students can go for anything class related. I can have calendars and evens that will keep my students informed. 

This seminar was on Oct. 7th. It was a seminar over applications that could be helpful for accommodating a variety of different learners. This includes ADHD students, ELL students, and other students with  exceptionalities. Most of the apps we talked about were for younger students. We also checked out the website getting smart. It has a variety of services that can help find/use media that deals with exceptional students. We looked a Duolingo- an app that can help students work on learning new languages. We also looked at other ways to accommodate students using apps. Things like allowing the iPad to read pages out loud and modifying texts. All of the accessibility settings that can be helpful for students. We can also let students use things like flipgrid to let students do presentations or view directions at their own pace. One last thing we talked about was PBL (project based learning) it could be an easy way to accommodate students. We can use different apps to help learners and make our lives as educators easier

In this webinar, we learned mainly how to create events in google calendar. We also mainly focused on how to create events for parent teacher conference, which is very helpful because during the time when we need to meet parents, it’s important to have a way with which both parents and teachers can work together to schedule a time to meet, and google calendar allows you to do it in a simpler way. We also learned how to create a calendar for a class, and by doing this and even printing it out, we can schedule what we will do as a class, which in turn helps students know and even keep up with the schedule. 

One thing that we went over was why and how technicians at schools block certain websites and how that effects teachers and students. It is recommended that teachers consult with technicians before planning their technology lessons. They say that teachers can submit requests when things are blocked so that they can get un-blocked. It is important to advocate and communicate with the school technology staff! I did not realize that technicians were helping out about a thousand kids per person. They have a lot on their plate so I think it is important to try things out for ourselves first. I also think that it is important to treat these technicians as our partners (because they are!). Lastly, it is important to be appreciative of their hard work at our schools. 

The seminar was with two men, both named Josh and they gave information, advice and insight on talking to our future school tech professionals. Here are the notes I wrote summarizing the event:

Role of a Tech Director (works at Deer Creek):

• Supporting devices, ipads, macbooks...help of 8 technicians 
• Desire to help, can be bribed
• Lose sight of how they can help and their daily impact
• Communication...submit work order or send email
• Advocate

What we're trying to accomplish:

• CIPA- child internet protection act
• Active attempt to restrict porn and harmful websites
• Double check that it works from teachers side as well as students side before actually trying to do something in class

Questions to ask during interview regarding schools technology:

• Ipads for myself? In classroom? Change rooms? 
• Have plan before going in on personal philosophy 
• Start with scenario and what you want to achieve

Being flexible (want vs. need) and achieving goals to help students

This webinar focused on implementing team-building activities into the classroom that aim to create and promote the atmosphere of an anti-bias education. Anti-bias framework includes identity, diversity,  justice and action. There were a few short videos that provided great examples of activities to use in the classroom with a wide variety of ages and depicted different domains. I think that in my special education classroom the ideas for activities that I got out of this webinar will foster community and encourage acceptance between peers in our classroom. Which is something that I think is highly necessary and beneficial. 

At the Google Calendar Webinar, we learned about sorting our lives in the calendar feature of Google. Before this workshop, I hadn't been aware of it existing. The extent of my Google experience was centered roundly on Drive, Mail, and Docs (and occasionally, Slides). So, when I saw that there was a webinar, I had gone looking for it because I didn't know such a thing had existed. We learned to place new events and even to set up appointments if our email was set up for the business side. 
I definitely think that Google Calendar will come in handy as a future teacher. If the school allows us to set up Parent/Teacher conferences using the app, it'll make it easy to see when parents are coming and being able to correctly prepare. After we had gone through the main features of Google Calendar, we had also stopped to look at Google Forms. I think both of them will be helpful. Even if we're able to use Google Calendar to set up appointments, having a Google Form will allow me as a teacher to better prepare for conferences.

I learned how to create, edit, and organize events on Google Calendar, and learned how to create a quick survey on Google Forms. i also learned how to best communicate with parents about parent-teacher conferences, and how Google Calendar and Google Forms can be used to help get the events out to parents and save time in the process.

I did a webinar on teaching tolerance about teaching hard history to students in k-3rd grade. This webinar was 60 minutes and had many features to it including a powerpoint, resource link, and a live chat. This webinar connected a lot to one of the classes I'm in right now, teaching social studies. And I think it hit a lot of good points on how to teach the hard history. Overall I learned that it is a disservice to not tell our students about the bad things in hoped to make America look better, but it is our duty to tell them the whole story through multiple perspectives.