I'm Not A TECHspert

As I have mentioned before, I am not that great with technology; but I'm willing to learn. My supervising teacher, Mr. Taylor, has been introducing me to a lot of cool technologies to use in the classroom which has been very helpful in my Internship I!

1. In Dr. Scanlon's Wordle, I only knew a few of those tech tools. I believe that teaching is an evolving profession and teachers should be up to date with the latest technologies so their lesson can better relate to students; which is something I am working on. I know many of my high school teachers did not use technology very often in my classrooms (which I didn't really mind, but I'm sure a lot of students would have loved to use technology in class).

2. When I was looking at the Screencast-O-Matic, I was imagining how I could use this in classrooms today. Since this tech tool allows you to incorporate audio while looking at your computer screen, I feel like I could use this for class projects when I assign them. For instance, certain learners might feel more comfortable presenting a project through Screencast-O-Matic versus an oral presentation. In this way, teachers can make their lessons more differentiated and present students with choice in the classroom.

3.  Writing virtually is important for students and teachers because it allows different modes of learning. For visual learners, typing on a computer or manipulating images on a screen might help them process information in a more effective way than simply on paper. Also, kids love technology and it keeps them engaged and feels like a reward to them.

When I think about the risks of writing virtually, of course I have to consider the fact that it's harder to monitor students and keep them on task than if they were doing work on paper. Furthermore, virtual writing depends on technology of course, and technology sometimes fails (forcing you to improvise the lesson) and computer access is different from school to school.

In my lessons, I love tools such as Infographics, Prezi, visual mapping tools, memes (especially the memes), Goodreads and Make it Look Like a Newspaper. The more tech tools that you use in a classroom, the more students see their teacher as an authority figure that they can relate to and a classroom where they feel like they can learn/discover in creative and diverse ways. Mr. Taylor uses memes and the aforementioned methods and his students engage in his classroom and respect him a lot more than other teachers.

4. On the Top Learning Tools for 2016, I saw a Haiku Deck tool and I thought that would be very useful for a short poetry unit. Also, there is a new tool called "Buffer" which manages social media for a student which could solve the monitoring problem that I spoke about earlier. The tool "Reflector" also helps make computer/phone recordings easier to access in the classroom.

5.  When applying Bloom's Taxonomy to this blog post, the top of tier (Creating) is the ultimate goal for teachers when using technology. I really enjoyed Dr. Scanlon's pyramid graphic because it includes many tech tools that accompany each level. I found this graphic below to illustrate the fact that students can use simple tools such as Ninjawords  or Flickr and climb up the "technology proficiency ladder" to ultimately create a voicethread or something more complicated and unique for the classroom.

6. There were a lot of useful tech tools to try out. Next, I would like to experiment and learn Haiku Deck and Pow Toon because I'm highly proficient in PowerPoint and want to branch out a bit!

What If Curiosity Didn't Kill The Cat?

“Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people” – Leo Burnett

As Leo Burnett so eloquently states, the key to unlocking creativity is to become curious about the world around us. They say that curiosity kills the cat, but I beg to differ. 

For instance, I adore writing poetry despite the fact that it is the most challenging form of writing for me. When it comes to poetry, I feel that my spectrum ranges from "wow did you write that?" to "wow, what were you thinking Ashley?" depending on the day.

 I have found that coming up with ideas for writing creative pieces is the hardest part however, if you write about things that you observe then you are more likely to succeed. Therefore, if you are more curious about the world around you, then you have plenty of material to write about. 

In my creative writing course at UCF we had to write a poem in order to convey an emotion by only using the objects that we saw around our rooms. I will post it here because I'm slightly proud of it despite the fact that it is a rough draft.... What emotion do you think that I am trying to get across?

Mama says I'm special

So the Bubba Gump license plate sneers;

But is that really so?

Mama would say I'm special while ignoring

My big textbooks gathering dust,

Cast aside in frustration

Taunting the withered black and orange

Flower in a small bottle about to topple over;

The strain of metallic necklaces

Cling on to their necklace holder

Each one tugging the thing down, down, down

While the dusty, forgotten glass rose

Stands alone in its vase, waiting for someone to notice

Its perch; its precarious position;

Right on the edge

The rose sulks at the empty vase,

Clear as day and as pure as nothing

Which sits isolated, collecting dust at the rim.

"Let me be the fashion queen"

Says the frame above my head.

It disregards the fact that it shall fall

When it falls, it shall shatter

It's just that close to oblivion...

Essay-Writer, Lesson-Planner, Teacher-Student Hybrid... Hobbyist?

When do we as teachers, students, workers, textbook-readers, essay-writers, lesson-planners actually have time for hobbies?

The answer is, of course, we don't have enough time for hobbies. I am a teacher by day, student by night and on the days where I am not in a classroom, I am working a part-time job. So on those rare days (like today) where I can sit and relax, I am very thankful!

Although this season of life consists of hard work and little time, I am so very grateful to be here. I had a difficult time getting into this internship and every day I'm in the classroom,  I feel that I am passionate and driven to do my best and I absolutely love it; all the effort was so worth it!

Writing used to be my number one hobby. I would write poetry a lot or whenever I was having a rough/stressful day, I would write for hours about my feelings or stories that I would come up with on the spot.

The best advice about writing that I have heard was that there is no such thing as writer's block; you simply write yourself out of it! You start slow by writing things you see (even write about the fact that you are experiencing writer's block) and then you allow your brain time to get creative ideas flowing again.



 I feel that writing yourself out of a writer's block is a practice we can use within the classroom because it forces kids to power through difficulties which will help them on tests such as FSA Writing and helps them develop creativity.

I also recently discovered the love of cooking. I have always loved cooking shows, especially anything with Bobby Flay as the chef (since I am sightly in love with him) so I chose to put them into practice one day and I loved it. My favorite dish to make is either home-made Mac & Cheese (Buffalo Chicken Mac or even Sriracha-Bacon-Chicken Mac) or Red Thai Curry.

Here is a list of my favorite hobbies:

• Singing too loud in my car (listening to Hamilton the Musical, Nora Jones, Adele and Frank Sinatra)
• Watching Netflix (Series of Unfortunate Events, Walking Dead, Bates Motel, Bob's Burgers, The Crown, Peaky Blinders, cooking shows) 
• Writing stories, personal anecdotes and poetry 
• Driving out to the beach really late at night to walk and talk with my friends
• Dancing to music whenever I'm in a silly mood :)

As far as Spring Break goes, I will probably complete all of the things on my hobby list but I don't have any plans thus far! I also enjoy hiking and Zumba so I might fit those in to my Spring Break! 

As a future educator, I feel that getting to know your students is of vital importance, therefore a blog post or creative poem/project about who they are might be a very useful for the beginning of the school year!