Professional Twitter Review!

    Since blogging about my experience on Twitter, I have followed so many new educators. I have gained so many different ideas including lessons, how arrange my future classroom and new applications to use. During my last blog post about Twitter I expressed that I thought it would be hard to keep up with my professional Twitter but I catch myself on the app daily scrolling through other educator’s pages trying to search for different ideas. I also catch myself laughing and relating to other teachers. Certain educators I follow will follow me back right away which is awesome because they will be able to see what I post and offer feedback or relate to me as well. I find myself retweeting tweets about encouragement, especially for teachers. I have realized that teachers are so welcoming to new ideas or giving advice to others. Many of the educators I follow post daily quotes of encouragement which makes me feel like I have support behind me. I have been contributing my feedback onto other professionals by explaining how much I liked their lesson or how I want to use it in the future as well.

   
    In my technology in education class, we were able to complete a Flipgrid hunt. After completing this fun activity, I realized this is something I can incorporate into my classroom which would create a positive environment for growth. Once I realized my team won, I went right to Twitter to post about my experience! Twitter is an excellent way to tag applications or other pages in your post to show them how much you find their application useful! I tagged Flipgrid right away and they replied congratulating me! I was also assigned to create a Meme based on my technology in education class. Of course, I made a Meme that had to do with Flipgrid my favorite application! I used AdobeSpark to create my Meme and it took me 10 minutes! I liked using AdobeSpark for this assignment because it was so simple to use! I was able to upload my own picture and use many different fonts or colors I wanted. Speaking of this application, it was completely free!

   
    After participating in my first Twitter chat, I was excited to participate in another one! My teacher allowed our classroom to make our own Twitter chat ran by one of my classmates, #trolleduchat. This Twitter chat was about Physical Education incorporated into the classroom environment. I was excited once I heard the topic because this is an issue that many educators see differently. Some teachers do not incorporate physical activity into their classroom which creates tired and less efficient students. We were able to express what we would like to incorporate into our future classrooms since not many of us have our own classroom yet. We gave each other applications that help with movement for younger students including GoNoodle! We were able to relate using ideas we have gained from our placements. My classmates also mentioned that many collaborating with a P.E. teacher regarding a lesson. I came up with the idea of using a math lesson by running from group to group. I learned so many different options I would have never thought of before and I was also able to follow new students from Trinity that participated.

 
    I have learned that Twitter gives me so many different opportunities to learn. Although Twitter is a social media platform, I think my professional Twitter surrounds me with educated teachers and others that give me a support system. Many of these educators have never met me or heard of me but continue to reach out and give advice. I believe I will use Twitter throughout my life as a teacher and far beyond that as well. I want to be the person on the other end of Twitter replying to a student who is going through what I am now. I want to be able to give advice and encouragement everyday too. I will continue to post on my professional Twitter long after my class is over. I encourage everyone who wants to become a teacher to join Twitter as well! You will learn so much from other educators which will only help you for the better.

Thanks for reading!

Here is my Meme created with AdobeSpark!

Student Response System Showdown!

    Recently in my technology in education class, my classmates and I presented on certain student response systems in a showdown! Student response systems (SRS) allow instructors to pose questions and gather student’s responses during a lesson/lecture. These response systems are super beneficial in a classroom because you as the teacher get to measure your student’s strengths and weaknesses on certain topics. This increases student engagement during class and helps them retain more information. During this showdown, I realized how many useful resources are out there to catch the attention of students and then test their knowledge on the topic.

     One of my favorite student response system was Formative. Formative gives the teacher the ability to see the student’s comprehension of the topic. The teacher can create assignments, quizzes, exit slips, homework or independent practice. They then can add pictures, text blocks or videos to explain the topic or assignment. After this, teachers can add questions. The thing I like the most about this SRS, is that you can add a question in multiple different ways. Teachers can add multiple choice, essay, short answer, and true or false questions to test a student’s understanding. Formative also allows students to draw their responses if they are not strong readers when taking assessments. The teacher will then assign the assessment to the students and the students will type in a class code to get to it. Teachers can also view the responses of the students to evaluate where they are on the topic, which ones they struggled with and which ones they have mastered. Formative is a quick and easy way to assess student’s comprehension. One thing I did not like about this specific student response system was that you cannot teach the lesson on this website, only the assessment, which makes it inconvenient for the teacher. During my experience, I created an art quiz in which tested my classmates on their ability to look at a painting I posted and identify the artist in multiple choice questions. It took me only five minutes to create the quiz and I thought it was super easy to use! Overall, I will use this in my future classroom which will make it easier to see student’s growth and areas that they need to improve on.

    Another student response system I will definitely use in my classroom would be Quizizz. Quizizz is an engaging website that allows students to get involved with learning by taking fun quizzes. This assesses student’s academic level in certain lessons. These quizzes are different than regular ones. When my fellow classmates presented this website, they gave us a class code to join and they had set us up on the system in groups. We were to finish the quiz in the fastest amount of time while answering the questions correctly. A down side of this quiz is that students will rush through the quiz just to be the fastest. A benefit from this website is that you can import spreadsheets or find other quizzes that are previously made as well as creating your own. Quizizz will keep track of how many people answered and what their responses were. You will get instant feedback and are able to track detailed data on the student’s comprehension. One thing on this system is that teachers can differentiate between content for different students based on their level of understanding. Teachers can choose between videos, PDFs or web pages. When making the quizzes, you can put pictures or memes in-between each question so the students can enjoy taking the quizzes. Getting feedback in such clear and immediate way, is helpful for teachers so they know the student’s strengths and weaknesses while planning for new lessons. One other downside to this website is that with the free version, you are only allowed to have five activities and three different classes. Overall, I believe that this website is super beneficial for students to engage in their learning in a more positive way.

    The last student response system I will be talking about is Mentimeter! Mentimeter is all about interactive presentations. Instead of having a classroom lecture on a certain topic where all of the students get distracted or day-dream, students will have a chance to participate in the presentation while you are teaching them something new! Teachers will create questions, click start presenting and the students will grab their technology device whether it be a cell phone or laptop and type in a student code in which will be given on the presentation. Their screens will pop up with the question and then they will submit their answer. When students visualize these answers, it makes them think and reflect back to what they had just learned on the previous slide. Everyone has an equal opportunity to voice their opinion. Students will feel more involved. When the presentation is done, you can analyze the data or share it. You can measure the progress of your students in a fun and creative way. One down side to this website is the prices. With the free version, you are able to have an unlimited audience size and unlimited presentations but you are limited to how many questions you put into your slides and you cannot export data unless you upgrade. In my technology in education class, I was able to portray a student and log in with a class code. I loved the presentation and being able to learn about something and test my knowledge right away. I believe Mentimeter is an excellent resource to use in the classroom because students are not just listening, they are engaging.

    I hope once you try out these student response systems you will love them as much as I do! They are perfect for teachers in every classroom and will give them quick feedback on how their students are mastering the content. I will be using them in my future classroom and utilizing how simple and fast they are! I know my students will love them and yours will too!

Twitter! Useful Tool or Not?

Before making a Twitter account, I thought of all of the things that people think or sterotype about what Twitter is used for. For example, posting pictures, talking about your day, checking up on friends and what others are up too. Not only did Twitter prove those people wrong, but it also took me by surprise too. Twitter is used for so much more than just having fun talking to friends and posting about your new coffee place you like.

Since I am going to school to become a special education teacher, I had the perfect opportunity to follow fellow teachers of all grades and specialists as well as administrators and prinicpals. I get to see what they strongly belive in when it comes to education. Since they all speak and reply to each other on Twitter, I participated in a "Twitter chat", which is a way for teachers to come together at a specific time and talk about their educational experience while asking questions for others to answer. I was hesitant to see if I could find one, but it turns out millions of teachers are on Twitter! I started following some of the teachers who were in the same field as me and found a chat! When looking up chats, I saw #3rdchat and deciding that was the one I would go with.

While participating in this chat, I got to speak and answer valuable questions about certain classroom styles, what to incorporate in activities and share my opinion as well as reading other educators responses. In this chat, we responded to questions pertaining to creativity in your classroom. We were asked what we think creativity means, how it should be incorporated and what should be done in order for students to express it. Teachers expressed that they promote creativity by making sure the student's know all work is not the same and they are all unique in their own way! When looking at these teacher's responses, I got to gather some ideas of how to bring out student's creative side. I will take all of this information and put it into my students when I become a teacher soon! Teachers stressed the idea of using multiple different ways to complete a task so that the students have options. They talked about new seating arrangements or options including bean bags, balls, cushions which could make the student more comfortable. They also mention how technology could bring out someone's creative side for example, Flipgrid. One of the teachers mentioned that Flipgrid helps the student become more creative when having to film a video of others or themselves answering questions. They also said that having students come to the board to circle or reply to questions gets their blood flowing and makes it more fun! I contributed my own ideas on the chat as well, for example in math, the students could answer with blocks or a drawing. Watching all of these teachers come together to provide opinions or options for activities showed me that in the future I have people rallying behind me to succeed even if I do not know them on a personal level.

Other than the #3rdchat, I was able to follow all of these amazing teachers that were so welcoming. I was now able to scroll through my feed and see what they are completing in their classes and what ideas I can use in my own class. I am also getting recognized by some teachers for good ideas or advice they can give me. On Twitter, I am now able to express some assignments I am proud of from my Technology class and reach out to their Twitter pages. I also get to relate to other teachers who use similar programs maybe for different reasons. I get to respond to other teacher's quotes and express how I feel about them. I get to read new articles that pertain to education and learn a lot from.

Twitter has shown me that teachers from all across the world can help each other, encourage each other and share ideas all in one spot. If you are a teacher or becoming a teacher like me, I suggest to make an account right now! Twitter is a great opportunity to meet new people including collegues, administrators and maybe even students! The teacher world is so wide with wise words from all. Get out and participate in a chat or just see what other teachers are up to in their classroom. Twitter is worth the hour or so of your time each day, such an amazing educational resource to use.

Hello!