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12.2 Pg. 307: Just from personal experience within schools, when having one machine and large screen for viewing, PowerPoints were used often (almost every day). Back then they could get boring, but I think with the updated features and possible additions a teacher could include could make them quite engaging. For example, for a science review, the teacher could display answers to questions randomly on the large screen and assign two teams to divide the class. One student from each team gets a plastic fly swatter, the teacher asks a question and the first student to place their fly swatter on the correct answer to the question and if correct, their team wins a point. As English teacher I would try to use the computer lab or computer cart for typing/writing. One activity I would like to conduct would be to have students create and write in their own personal blog to work on writing skills but to also encourage creativity.

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11. 1 Pg. 273: The assessments that were the most helpful to me were for example when we would have weekly readings, once a week, we’d have a one-page written response to submit on what we read. This took less pressure off students unlike an exam but kept the students on track and up-to-date because they had to read the assignment to answer and write the prompt. It also offered creativity and different personal perspectives on the texts. This assessment style also fueled discussion within the class because everyone could come into class with their own thoughts of something within the text that was assigned to the entire class. I might use quizzes if I notice that many people are not doing the reading or writing assignments. A trial “pop-quiz” may be installed as somewhat of a “wake-up call” to students and may not even count it but just to keep their attention and get them to continue the readings. Worksheets are good for English (my concentration) depending on what topic, for example, practicing grammatical constructs would be a good place to use worksheets. I think most of what I try to use is portfolios and writing as an English teacher. The portfolio helps track the students progress and gives the student a visual representation of their own work.

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10.2 Pg. 251: Personally, I’d much rather a hands-on activity over listening to a lecture. I’m a visual learner so being able to practice what I’m learning, then I am able to retain the new information better. I also like when teachers split it up as they would in many math classes, they present the new information to the students and then break to practice the new methods either individually or as a class. This also helps identify how many are still having trouble with certain concepts and indicates more time needs to be spent on them rather than just sending everyone home with homework due the next day that they don’t understand where to even start. One interesting way I was taught in high school was in my pre-calc class. The teacher would make a screencast-o-matic and then construct the lesson on the video. We would watch the video for homework and then practice the problems (what most would have for homework), in class the next day. I really liked this method because students would come in with specific questions and we would do more hands-on practicing. Important to learn about students to gauge and monitor their interests and strengths and weaknesses and build methods from there as to conduct the classroom, etc.

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9.2 pg. 226: The learning advantages to using short video segments rather than longer selections is that there is not too much information being thrown at the student to try and piece together and follow along with. They are able to focus their attention better on shorter clips rather than lose interest and patience with a longer selection. After reflecting on my past experiences, I feel as though I would rather have my students stop and discuss what is occurring in the video and talk about it throughout the viewing because if a student is confused in the beginning about something then they are likely to be confused throughout which doesn’t keep them engaged. By breaking it down, students can share points and ideas that others may have missed while getting a better understanding of what is going on in the video and why it is important. I don’t really have an idea as to whether students attend to something they worked on more or something commercially made. I feel as though they will be engaged to produce the commercial but afterwards just brush it off whereas with the commercially made video, they don’t have to put in extra work to make it and can focus on the analysis. The video’s topic can either completely deter students from the start or get them excited to further the discussion in class.

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The most useful ways of leading students to be digital citizens in multiple settings is to lead by example. For students to see that their teacher is practicing what they are preaching than they know it’s not just something that they have to say. It shows its significance. It also helps to show students cases of poor digital citizenship and the consequences because of those decisions. I learned the same things in elementary school as I did in high school and found that the schools can talk about it all they want but it’s ultimately up to the student as to whether they want to post something or not even with the possible consequences. As a teacher I would reflect on articles or personal anecdotes about poor decisions online and the outcome and tell my classes the reason I do something online as a digital citizen and my reasoning for it rather than just say this is what I do so you should too.

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8.1 pg 194: One of the reasons texting is such a popular mode of communication among young people is because the information can be sent so easily and so fast with very little effort. It is also effective because if the person on the receiving end were to have to remember a date or time, they would not have to call up and ask the person because they have the text message with the information needed on their phone already. It can also be easier to explain information, especially step by step through text than explaining it. Unlike emails, a text can be very informal and a simple yes or no could be sent in response to a message rather than making a call. It may hinder writing skills in that spelling may not be as much of a skill in a students mind because with things like autocorrect, it does it for you but also students, if starting at a young age, may translate their texting style of writing into their school work, possibly abbreviating “at” to @ (which I have seen in my clinical placement). I don’t think texting has affected my writing skills, but I also did not grow up in an age where I had a iPhone and an iPad when I was in 3rd grade. I don’t think teachers will change curriculum, nor do I think they should because they would be catering to using poor language in texts rather than emphasizing their academic writing importance.

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7.1 pg 164: The elements of gameplay, competition and reward and self-correcting feedback, etc. is useful to students learning because they are learning from their own mistakes which helps them remember the corrections in the future and helps prevent them from further making those mistakes. It is also helpful because it puts it more on the student to learn and correct themselves which is different than having someone like a teacher or anyone different from themselves be the one to tell them they are “wrong” and allows them to feel more comfortable to make a mistake and learn from it rather than feel scolded for it. TedTalks are a good outlet for students to learn more perspective on various topics while learning about a subject side by side the video. They can think about it from different perspectives while considering and growing upon their own. I also found it helpful to show clips or whole movies (depending on allotted time) to assist students understand a text that may be in a form of English different than what they are used to (Old English, Shakespearian, etc.). It’s also nice for students to be able to do more hands-on work while learning about a subject to keep them engaged rather than have them do one monotonous assignment/reading after another.

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6.1 pg 133: I still haven’t found the ideal way to have enough time to get everything done without going until the very last minute because each course feels like they are the only course we are taking and give us enough work and reading to cover two other classes, so it is hard to manage. That being said, I have kept different folders, both on the computer and physical that help me remain organized for each class and school teaching assignments. I try may best to do the homework for each class the night it is assigned that way I go day-by-day but often it trickles into the next day or even week depending on the assignment. There isn’t too much of a difference. For assignments/homework, I have a separate document made for each one while I have one document for each class notes. For my notebooks, I keep notes and hand out for specific classes in the respective notebooks rather than mix classes in notebooks. I also date the page every time I have class, so I know what was discussed when.

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5.1 pg 123: I think that bullying and cyberbullying occur because students don’t think that what they say through technology can/will be brought into light away from the screen. They feel that since the chat is between them and one other person that that is who it will remain between when the truth is far from that. They also feel more “powerful” behind a screen and at as if they are untouchable because they are not physically with the other person face to face. I think teaching empathy toward others and respectful communication should begin as soon as possible. I don’t feel as though there is a reason to do otherwise and wait for students to get older because it’s what they learn and foster at a young age that they carry with them when they are older. I have had many programs in grammar school and high school about cyberbullying but none of which have really had any preventative effect afterward. As a teacher it’s important to always be aware of what goes on in the hallways, at recess, lunch, sports fields, etc. because just because it doesn’t happen in the classroom doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. Being aware of who is saying what and their tone is a huge indicator as to what they may be doing when the teacher is not around.

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4.2 pg 97: I would not necessarily consider myself as “skilled” at taking multiple-choice tests. There are some strategies such as process of elimination and narrowing the answers down if you are stuck on questions; however, you still need to know the information to be able to even do that. The strengths are in a way the weaknesses in that some students feel less pressure with them because of such techniques but the multiple choice tests display the right answer and the student has to just have their memory jogged to mark the one they are familiar with (this again can be a strength too because the student is still familiar enough to know it is the right answer). Skills and talents by paper and pencil show how the students can apply what they read to their writing and back up their claims and answers based on inferences from the text (more creative answering system). I had both forms of testing while in grade school and in secondary school and even now in college. I would like to try them both at least once but as an English teacher, I would try to move away from testing and evaluate the students differently such as engaging projects.

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The future impact of technology can impact the learning and thinking behaviors of students positively because although there are mindless applications such as social media apps, there are many technological programs that foster thinking and learning. I personally took a CAD course in high school that involved 3D design and creativity. It was an engineering based course within the STEM/STEAM program. There are also many cases in which students see others promote a healthy lifestyle through exercise videos, podcasts, etc. that may explain a workout routine or just living a positive life and working hard to pursue dreams such as Gary Vee. By seeing others promote what they may be interested in or passionate about, it gives them a community and platform to become a part of which fosters positive behavior and thinking, in and out of the classroom.

I feel like the negatives may seem like they outweigh the positive factors because they are brought up more often. There are tons of videos of people conducting themselves poorly while trying to be funny, but there are kids that are viewing the material and soaking that in, thinking that if they do the same, they may become "popular" and funny. The more technology advances, the more video games will advance in terms of interactive games, graphics, and other aspects. I do not own any type of gaming system and personally feel as though many games involve critical thinking and strategizing, but I have witnessed how it can take up much of one's free time and see how their grades may suffer from that. It is also does not allow the child or person to interact with others in person, only through screen. They are unable to develop communication skills that are used in everyday life. It is also negative because some rely on technology to solve their problems (whatever they may be). Instead of working through it, they just google it. I'm not saying it's necessarily bad but some may not even learn new things because they know that information is available within seconds through technology.

To successfully teach students, teachers need to incorporate technologies in which students can have access to at home and not just in the classroom. For example, everything for this class is accessible for us at home (and for free...ish). Students have various obligations, lifestyles and homelives, so by allowing them to access it makes them feel as though they don't need to be at a prestigious school to get important resources. Websites such as this one foster creativity. In high school I had to make a website for English and it did not even feel like work while creating it and working on it throughout the year because aside from the prompts to write about, I had complete control over everything else such as layout, pictures, colors, etc.; it made it fun.

3. Going back to my CAD class, many students took it just to add another class to their schedule, but they ended up liking it so much, they became certified in it and continued to study engineering in college. That's is a special case since the class is focused on technology but in classes such as English classes, I think it is important for teachers to incorporate some modern apps or websites students use outside of school and set up assignments to use them in the classroom. I know many education classes use twitter (I have been a part of 2 classes that used twitter to communicate about readings, discussions, etc.) By including apps that children/students use on their free time, they are able to have more fun with assignments and can get creative by adding pictures to their comments. It seems small but it allows the student to add their touch to something and be somewhat free to do what they want and be creative.

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I try my best to steer away from e-books as much as possible but sometimes the e-books are less than half the price of the print textbooks, so it would be hard to turn away from that. Sophomore year for my organic chemistry class, the print textbook cost over $200, but a got the same textbook as an e-book from an eBay dealer for $10. I also use the e-book version of the textbook required for this course. Reading them is different because often you cannot display a whole page because the font would be too small. It’s different because there are many more features that save the reader time such as highlighting features, but it is the same in that it is all the same information.

The interactive features of e-books are the only reason I even consider them. The highlighting features of the text is so fast; you just click and scroll. The search bar is also very nice because if you are researching a specific term, you can simply type the word into the texts search bar and it displays every instance and page in which that word/term appears. The stick note aspect is also nice because if writing a research paper, you can read a passage and add a note for an idea that may have sprung out while reading the passage. Now the student knows exactly what passage made them think about the idea and can cite it much easier.

I personally always much rather holding a physical copy of a book when possible, but in some cases, textbooks only have an e-book version, and as stated, the features of them are very enticing along with the much cheaper price tag. Another aspect of them is that it also prevents students from having to carry so many physical books around campus; however, the downside is that maybe some students do not have the financial opportunities to have an electronic device to have access to the electronic copy. Another aspect is that at least for many of my e-books, I must log in and open them with connection to the internet, so if I was on a car trip or plane ride, I would not be able to access the book because I would not be connected to wi-fi. The physical copy of the book does not have that issue. Another aspect of e-books, which would also affect me as a teacher, is that since the e-books are on the computer or tablet, it is very easy for students and teachers alike to become distracted. They are a click away from a game website or social media or even just searching the web. It is hard for students to stay disciplined enough not to look at anything else. The other thing is that computers have a battery life and must be charged so if someone does not have access to an outlet or charger, now they no longer have access to the e-book. Taking these pros and cons into consideration, I still see the future having many more books electronically rather than the physical copy.