T.H.E. Happy Song

EDLD 5366 Reflection

Self-Assessment
While learning about the design principles of Color, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity I reviewed some of my old handouts and flyers and realized that they probably distracted the viewers. Many times I would be scared of white space and therefore, cram too many graphics onto a page. I have also restructured my website in order to follow these rules and create a cleaner alignment and keep proximity in mind in order to keep related items together.  I am now more confident when it comes to creating media and know that my future handouts and posters will not be ignored.
Learn as a Learner
For our team website we used Google Docs, Google Hangouts, and Google Sites in order to work collaboratively and create a website that used all the design elements.  Our team wanted to create something more than just a website to turn in as an assignment.  We wanted something that we will share with colleagues and hopefully inspire other teachers to incorporate technology into their classrooms. I believe we achieved that goal.  Even though we all had differing levels of technology skills, the group worked together to teach each other from our strengths.  My strength did not lie in the area of design.  I was able to teach some members of our group how to use Google sites and docs while they helped me with the alignment and colors of my page. Working together with my teammates allowed us to create a beautiful and useful website.
Lifelong Learning Skills
Another part of this class that I found helpful was the self-branding.  I began that week skeptical and ready to just get through the assignment and move on.  I believe that I fit into the mold that Utecht was describing when he stated “educators do not take enough time to pat themselves on the back, reflect, and think about themselves as a brand”.  However, as I read about controlling your brand and even saw the value of teaching this to my students.  I discussed the permanence of a web footprint and why they need to be the ones to decide how others view them.  Each member of the class wrote down an adjective that describes their classmates.  After that part of the assignment the students chose the top 10 adjectives and a graphic in order to create a phoetic word cloud.  This was one of the first things the students placed on their blog and they will be able to look back at that image and hopefully be inspired to keep those positive images at the front of their mind.  I am interested to see if this helps my students as the year goes on and what they feel they gained from that activity.  I am lucky enough to have my students for multiple years, so I plan on follow up activities to enhance this lesson.
Implementation of Websites
When it comes to web pages and Web 2.0 tools in the classroom, “ students are accustomed to having a range of means to communicate and process information outside of school, they must conform to a more restrictive media environment within school.” This has led me to rethink my classroom environment and use a website called, Kidblog to incorporate blogging into our everyday procedures.  Gerstein (2011), states “The most powerful learning often happens when students self-monitor, or reflect.” My students are learning to reflect on assignments and comment to each other about those reflections.  They have had to take ownership of their education and helped them to be more engaged.  Each child has a Kidblog account that they use to upload their digital products and reflect on what they have learned.  We have also started a class website that we hope will inspire other teachers and students to incorporate technology into their lessons. We have always used websites such as Brainpop, Discovery, Study Jams, and National Geographic for multimedia. Now I am trying to have the students create the media to inspire their learning.
Gerstein, J. (2011), Where is reflection in the learning process? retrieved fromhttp://usergeneratededucation. wordpress.com/2011/08/16/where-is-reflection-in-the-learning-process/ Feb. 11, 2014.
Multimedia Applications for the Classroom. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cited.org/output_pages/printDefault.aspx?page_id=106, February 12, 2014. 
Utecht, J. (2010). Creating your personal brand. Retrieved from http://www.thethinkingstick.com/creating-your-personal-brand, February 11, 2014.

My Week 3 Animation

Okay, so this project ended up being lots of fun and I can't wait to share this with my students.  Go to abcya animate to create your own.

Bible from Ethiopia (Design Principles)

This week we are learning about 4 principles of design and were asked to apply these principles to ancient manuscripts.  I reviewed page 3 of the Ethiopian Bible from the British Library online.  This book was beautiful and I was impressed with the organization and bright colors that were found throughout.  The design principle of repetition can be seen from the repeating patterns of green, blue, and red.  The symbols around the text and at the header also repeat.  The alignment of the text into two columns helps separate the words and keep the flow of the stories.  The title line also uses repeated visual elements that are centered and framed. There is a square border that frames the text with contrasting vivid colors.  The text uses two contrasting colors of black and red.  I am guessing that the red words are of higher importance and contrasted to bring them to the audience’s attention.  The final design principle is proximity.  The columns of text separated by graphics help keep the information organized and grouped together. 

Internship/Practicum Progress

Throughout this semester, I have been able to complete quite a few of my internship projects.  I was on the interview committee to hire our new principal and that will fit in nicely into Domain II: Instructional Leadership, skill 23 personnel procedures.  Being a part of this committee helped me to understand the process that HR has to go through in order to hire and the process I will have to be a part of when I interview for principal or assistant principal positions.  In August, I led an iPad training for staff development, sent out a letter to the district GT teachers regarding start of the school procedures, attended a board meeting, and assigned the hallway bulletin boards to the staff.  The most interesting assignment to start the year was working on class lists.  We had to consider boy/girl ratio, student achievement, special populations, bilingual, behavior, and parent requests.  I have a much better appreciation for that task and the details involved.  Some of the other intern related activities include implementing the iSchoolBox app, sitting on the Site Based Decision Making Committee, Reviewing the technology plan for our principal and the district technology visioning committee, and starting an enrichment program for the third, fourth, and fifth grade classes.  My principal has encouraged me to stay involved and keep adding to my hours.

Action Research Progress

Where to start on getting things done with my Action Research Project?  This summer everything was moving along smoothly with my project.  My principal and assistant principal were signed off on it and I thought things would progress according to the prescribed timeline.  Boy was I wrong!  About a week after that class both my principal and assistant principal were transferred to other campuses.  We didn’t end up hiring a principal until the first week of August.  He has been amazingly helpful, but we all know that things don’t always go as planned.  Anyway, I am now a few months behind on my project, but feel confident that it will be complete before the due date.  I have created the initial survey and worked with the district instructional technologist to find some of the articles that will be included.  I plan on editing my timeline during the holidays.

EDLD 5363 Weeks 4 and 5 Reflection

Our group did a great job of making sure that everyone was included in the planning and creation phases of creating our video. I am very excited to get busy creating more videos for my students.  In fact, I am even more excited about my students creating their own videos.  This class has helped me become more aware of all the free video editing programs available online and the many ways they can be used in a classroom.