Summary of attendance

This webinar discussed strategies for how to be an effective ally for not only the students in the classroom but also your colleagues. They defined ally as a person or organization who helps another in a particular activity. Each person presenting also gave examples of times they felt like they really needed an ally to help them through a difficult situation in their teaching career. The main focus was on the allies within the social aspect of education such as race, gender, or socioeconomic status. There were different things that influence how to be a good ally such as individual identity, motivation to be an ally, and strategies. There were also scenarios that allow the participants to think through what they would do in the situation and how they could be an effective ally in that scenario. 

For this workshop, we learned how to use the app Clips. Since we have already used this some in class, this workshop was a great reminder. I made a video about OU football today. Since I am apart of many different campus organizations, I really like using this app as a way to share pictures and videos to our members. I can easily add captions and music to media that was taken at an event. As a teacher, I think this would be a great way to engage my students and let them be creative in expressing what they know!  

In this workshop we learned about 5 different presenter tools that can be used in a classroom.  The apps that we learned about were spark note, spark post, keynote, Explain everything, and book creator.  All of these apps are ones that I have used before so I was comfortable when using them in the workshop.  We specifically talked about how these apps can be used to create a presentation to show students and parents to tell them a little bit about ourself when it is the beginning of the year.  In regards to using them as a student I feel comfortable using any of the apps for any kind of project or presentation.

We learned how to use Voice Recorder Pro. Now as a student, I could use this app during my tutoring sessions for classes, and to record my thoughts about my classes. As a teacher, I could use this app as bell ringers, exit tickets, questions my students my have, and assessing knowledge over a given lesson. The app could be used in all subjects--math, science, social studies, literacy, spelling, music, and more. I could also use this app to record my own voice for students to listen to lessons or practice listening comprehension. 

This webinar was about getting conversations started about racism and race within the school setting. It had many interactive voting features that I unfortunately missed because I didn't watch it live. I did pick my answers along with the others like I was attending the live session. I learned many new techniques about identifying who you are as a person and how to integrate that into a diverse classroom. I plan to use this in my future classroom by making sure my students know about diversity and how to deal with it. We will have meaningful conversations with each other about important issues that are appropriate for the age group that I am teaching. 

Most things that Monica had gone over in the webinar I have heard of before. Something that she had brought up was using virtual reality. she had mentioned it very quickly. However, I was able to do some research on virtual reality in the classroom. I had seen one teacher that had used it to teach the solar system and different climates in the world. I really liked how they implemented it. My goal is to attempt to try and use virtual reality to give students a better understanding of the topic. 

I learned that there are quite a few features I did not know about FlipGrid, such as adding attachments and interactive materials, that teachers can control. There are a number of ways that you can introduce these features to students, and many more projects that you can do. For me, this was eye opening, as FlipGrid seemed like just a simple introduction or video summary app, but there is much more you can do with it!

We learned 5 apps to use for a flipped classroom. I already knew most of them, but i learned ways the apps can work together to make really cool videos and projects i could give to my students and there parents. I think I will use them to differentiate the curriculum with my students and encourage general education teachers to use it as a way to differentiate for their students on IEPs.

I attended a Shadow Puppets Seminar at the University of Oklahoma on September 22 2017. Unfortunately, we were only there for about 45 minutes because of some wifi issues that were happening on campus at the time and were not allowing up to access the Shadow Puppets app. Instead the presenter, Anne Beck, spoke about the app as well as some other supplementary apps like Seesaw, and then she went on to the assignment. She went in detail over the assignment, how to create stuff in the app, and showed us examples. In the end we wrote down the guidelines and just did the assignment on our own. Essentially, I did exactly what I would've done with Anne in the seminar, except by myself. I still had fun!

In this webinar, I learned how to use Flipgrid in my own (future) classroom. They spoke less on the app itself and the tools of it. They focused more on how to actually implement the app in a learning-enhancing manner. They provided ways that real teachers have used this app in their own classrooms and the different subjects that it can enhance. 

They talked a little about how to get past the technology pedagogy in the class. They reminded us that good teachers trump good tools. However, we should be asking ourselves, "now that I have this tool, what can I do now that I was not able to do before?" 

They also talked about how to go beyond the basics of the app. They highlighted that Flipgrid a great and easy way to provide students with feedback. Additionally, it is a great way to provide students with peer-to-peer feedback. 

As a student, I can use the app when reflecting my ideas and comprehension of information being taught. I can also use it to make a journal of things being taught in my classes so I can go back and reflect on it later when the information is not as fresh on my mind. For peers, it could be useful to share ideas and feedback in an organized manner.

As a teacher, I could use it in so many ways. I could have students do book reflections, explain thought processes in math, get parents involved (introductions/interview questions), summarizing texts, public speaking practice, historical figures (make a movie about them), or do oral quizzes for foreign languages. There are endless ideas on how to promote the app in your own class! However, I love that the ability to provide students with feedback is so simple and easy! It would save time to be able to watch a short clip, send a short clip back, or respond to the video. 

The purpose of the webinar was to be able to evaluate a school environment and how they respond to tensions, and how to build a safe environment for schools after hate and bias has occurred. They explained the difference between a hate crime and a bias. He talked about the importance of having a plan in school for these incidences. He brought up President Trump, and how that affected schools. Students began to target other students for their religion. They explained the steps for before, during, and after in regards to a crisis. Before a crisis happens, educators need to listen, watch, and learn. I also found it interesting that bus drivers are great resources on finding out what is happening with the climate of the school. It is also important to have a plan for when hate or bias happens online. There are 9 steps when dealing with these issues. When the incident is over, teachers can investigate where the divisions are. Overall, having a plan to deal with these issues can create a safer environment for all students. I want to have a safe environment when I am a teacher for all students. I can use this information to evaluate  my school and classroom. If the school does not have a plan, I can propose creating a plan for incidents of hate and bias. 

This weekend, I had the opportunity to Attend Monica Burns' webinar about how to utilize technology in the classroom and nurture a tech savvy classroom. Monica first talked about honoring student curiosity and using their interests to sort of guide your teaching. She recommended using the Padlet app to facilitate this. It is incredibly interactive and easy for both the teachers and the students to share ideas. Monica also talked about creating a backchannel, which is a discussion board of sorts. I really liked this idea because classroom discussions can be a little stressful and anxiety inducing for students always wondering who is going to be called on or being to nervous to speak in front of the whole class. One more thing that she mentioned was using apps like iMovie for the students to crate their own videos and share content in a way that makes sense to them.