Summary of attendance

I learned about the 7 different standards that teachers need to learn when using technology. I learned about how teachers need to empower students when learning, making students more technologically savvy and how we can use technology to benefit our students. I will use this information in my classroom when I am working with students to fit their needs as best I can.

Tonight I attended a webinar that demonstrated and had examples of how to use Scratch Jr. Scratch Jr. is an app for your iPad that is designed to teach coding skills through games and fun activities for young children. I thought that this app was really interesting and helpful considering that I am Early Childhood. You can play games, show off your creative side by drawing, and create a lot of cool things. The host of the webinar, Shelly Fryer, also added additional resources at the end of the webinar. I thought that it was helpful that she added resources that had to do with coding and young children, too. This helped me as a future teacher learn what kind of resources to use when I want to integrate coding in my future classroom.

I went to Eman Beck's workshop where she talked about iMovie and different movie/trailer makers. We talked about and discovered apps such as Animoto, Video Scribe, Action Movie, Animatic, Toontastic, and Lapse it. I thought this was one of the most influential workshops I could have gone to. I want my future english students to make videos about the books they have read, stories they have written, and worlds they have created. Eman Beck gave me plenty of resources to look at. When we talked about Lapse it she suggested using it in a science classroom but I suggested to everyone that they could use it to track their students working. It would be a cute video to show the students at the end of their projects so they can see how much work they actually did. I also love Action Movie where students can pop in real life action scenes anywhere in their videos. I thought the boys in my classroom would especially love to be able to blow something up in their videos. Video Scribe is the other app that has stuck in my mind. However, this is an app that would cost money and I am unsure if I would want to pay for it. The app draws pictures and words for you but I think the students could just as easily do this. I'm sure artistic kids would rather draw it themselves anyways. Overall, a great workshop!

I did the coding.org workshop with McKalyn Danner. It was an oddly timed because the previous day before the webinar we had our coding.org homework, but I still enjoyed it. McKalyn briefly discussed how to use coding.org, but instead of the examples we did, she used Minecraft examples. She talked about the six steps to coding which are plan, promote, prepare, inspire, code, and celebrate. Each step is an important part, and teachers should take their time to complete each one. We talked about the different levels of coding.org which are CS Fundamentals, CS Discoveries, and CS Principles. Fundamentals are for the earlier grades, discoveries are for the middle grades, and principles are for higher grades. The information I found most useful is that she provided a workshop link for teachers to use the CS Fundamentals. It is free to anyone who wants to attend. However, the CS Discoveries and CS Principles are only allowed to practicing teachers because you must have principal approval.

On 11/14/17, I attended the Global Education Conference online and watched the session called "Children's Literature for Solving Real-World Problems" presented by Tina Genay. Tina Genay presented over 25 books to enhance global education in the classroom and not only show students how to make a difference in the world, but also empower and inspire students to make a difference. The books presented covered a variety of topics including gardening, war, social justice, animals, the environment, music, kindness, etc. These book topics can inspire awareness and start discussions in all curriculum areas.

I attended the iPadPalooza at the beginning of the semester and got to learn about many different things about my iPad and different uses for it in education. I got to see different speakers and attend different technology workshops including how to become an apple teacher with Dr. Cullen.

During the webinar with Dr. Cullen I gathered a lot of valuable imformation on assisting students that are coding and technology oriented. The swift playground lessons seem to be very helpful in teaching coding and supplying activity for students to use coding and become familiar with it. I will need all the help that I can get when it comes to teaching coding so I am happy to have some new resources to access when approaching that. After participating in the webinar I already feel more comfortable in tackling the coding education world. One other big take away from the webinar was to remember to have a child teach you things. I will definitely be taking this advice and hopefully reach out to children who are already experts in coding. 

In this webinar, I learned various ways to get students of all ages some experience with coding. Dr. Cullen showed some Anyone can Code books, which were very cool. I learned that coding can be a collaboration tool. I also learned that teachers should not be scared of teaching coding to their students, teachers and students can learn together. I learned how coding games, such as the one mentioned with hiding objects and giving commands to find them, relate to real-world coding.

I went to Ipadpalooza on September 30. I got to see several technology workshops there inculding one on a green screen video that I got to take part in.

I attended Melanie Adams workshop "Suited for Success - Professional Dress Do's and Don'ts" and "How to Create a Winning Resume".  This workshop was super helpful, and I learned several tips for improving my resume and for preparing for job interviews.  Melanie stressed the importance of tailoring your resume and cover letter to fit the particular position you are applying for, rather than creating one version and distributing it multiple places.

This workshop simplifies coding education for teachers. It teaches current educators how to organize basic commands and gives them the option to see the commands in a coding language. The workshop then takes the extra step of guiding teachers through conducting their own coding instruction. As the workshop mentions, no one is an expert at coding the first time they do it. The creators of this workshop added resources for teachers to start including coding in their classrooms so that students and teachers can become experts together. 

I attended workshop that thought 3D printing. In the OU library I learned that students can print anything they want (with in 3D printing capability) for free. I also learned that you can 3D print on OU’s campus. At the workshop I printed out a bell shaped cookie cutter (something I have been looking for, for a long time). In the workshop we were taught that the printers print in layers and that the material that the printers print with come in a multitude of colors. By using supports that can be broken off the printers can produce complex structures that can be both decretive and useful. While there was a line for getting your order printed I was still able to get my cookie cutter the very same day that I placed the order. I learned that simpler things are faster and easier to print, especial for the school library. Something that was also very fascinating to me was that there is a search engine that you can just type in a key word and a patter for printing could be downloaded and used. As a student I can see myself going back to the printing lab for everyday things or even to create structures for projects or presentations. As a future teacher I think it is important to understand the base line for 3D printing because it is such a big step to the future. My future students could be 3D printing even in the primary grade it is that easy. As a teacher being able to understand how the printers work could help my students grow as learners.