Sofie's EME2040 Blog

I haven’t really enjoyed distance learning so much this semester. Zoom makes it difficult and awkward to interact with other students, and I’m in a few classes where class discussion is a key part of the course. I’m not sure how I’d combat this as a teacher, but cultivating a fun and engaging classroom environment would definitely be a priority for me. Something I like about distance learning is that I am able to go at more of my own pace with some classes. I have issues with auditory processing, so I prefer watching a video of a lecture, where I can pause and rewind as much as I want, to watching a lecture live. Open Educational Resources (OER) are freely-distributed resources that are licensed for reuse, remixing, and redistribution. OER are specifically created for use by teachers, and can include lesson plans, tests, syllabi, and other educational media. This article, “16 OER Sites EveryEducator Should Know,” gives a thorough list of some of the OER websites thatare currently ava...

I’ve never made any kind of blog before, so this assignment was pretty much my introduction to web design. I think I have a better grasp of the fundamentals of making a website aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly now. Overall, I enjoyed this assignment, and I liked the freedom I had in formatting the website. I’m proud of how mine turned out. I’ll definitely be utilizing these tools to make an online portfolio for my writing. Here's my website . I’m not a super huge fan of Diigo, but I find some aspects of it useful. I think it could be most helpful in the context of a group research project. The annotation function is pretty robust, and I like that you can comment on other people’s annotations. The summary function is also pretty helpful if you’re working with a group. Staying up to date with technology is an important part of professional development as a teacher. Since we are going to be expected to teach many of our future students technological literacy, it’s importan...

  The teacher page that I found, which was listed as an example of a high-quality teacher page on a separate teaching website, has abundant resources that are publicly available. The page includes all relevant class materials parents might want to see, including lesson plans, daily schedules, and worksheets. It also provides links to external resources, including educational websites and apps, sorted into “Just for Kids” and “Just for Parents” sections. Besides its educational resources, this teacher page includes class photos and an “About the Teacher” section. You can find this teacher page here. There are many ways that I could use technology to accomplish my teaching responsibilities more efficiently than I could without using technology. One is through the use of word-processing software like Microsoft Word, which I could use to make class materials like worksheets and newsletters. When editing or commenting on student works (which is an important part of being an English te...

  I have enjoyed using Diigo so far. At first, I had a bit of trouble with highlighting and annotating, and especially with reading and responding to other people’s annotations. Now that I understand how to use these functions, I think that this is a great resource for the classroom. I like the collaborative nature of the site. Blogging has been much easier than I thought it would be. I’ve always seen blogging as this really foreign thing that only really computer-savvy, graphics-savvy people know how to do. However, I’ve found my foray into blogging pretty simple and enjoyable. I will definitely continue blogging in my future career as a writer, now that I know how simple it is. One interesting Web 2.0 tool that I may use when teaching is Prezi . I used Prezi in the classroom throughout my academic career, and I’ve always found it to be a reliable and useful academic tool. Prezi is a website for making slide-based presentations that can then be publicly posted and shared with ...

 My EME Twitter account is the first social media account I have used for professional networking. The Twitter Chat I participated in was about inclusivity in the classroom, and most of the people interacting with it were educators or education majors. I enjoyed contributing my opinions to this discussion and reading other people’s responses. In my future career as a writer, Twitter could be a huge asset for me in terms of networking and promoting my work. The digital divide creates inequality between students who do and don’t have access to high-quality technology at home. Many students, especially those who are low-income or live in rural areas, do not have home access to high-speed internet or high-quality computer programs. Since technology is such an important part of education nowadays, digital divide means many students have unfair educational disadvantages compared to their peers. Teachers should try to remedy this by offering alternatives to digital projects for students...

 ELA technology standards cover the use of technology to communicate across a variety of academic subjects. One of the Grade 5 technology standards is the ability to include visual and audio elements in digital presentations to strengthen how key ideas are expressed. I believe that, based on my current skill set and experience level, I am equipped to implement this standard. I know how to create pictures, video, and audio recordings, and I know how to implement them to enhance ideas in a variety of formats. I chose a 5 th grade theatre lesson plan, since I am interested in teaching the performing arts to young children. The lesson plan is entitled, “Sold: Acting for the Commercial.” It involves separating students into groups and having each group write and act in a commercial, then voting as a class on which commercial is best. I would love to use this lesson plan in an acting class because it involves multiple elements of performing arts (writing, acting, directing), and it ha...