Things that I have learned

1.  Teaching the skills of digital literacy is playing an important role in the educational field. My role as an educator is to introduce in details of the use of technology because there are many new technology nowadays. I have to explain instruction very clearly to students and show them the benefits of using technology in teaching. It is a blessing to everyone to gain new knowledge. Also, I have to prepare learners especially younger learners for further or higher education that will apply more digital technologies.

2. The digital literacy skill that students will need to learn in my class is use computers for research. Such skills include verifying credible sources online and how-to cite web sites. Students need to know the guidelines of a credible source for their research. For example, http://www.ivcc.edu/stylebooks/stylebook6.aspx?id=14724 provides a good and clear guidelines for students. Citing sources may be difficult for students. I have a good citing website to help students http://www.easybib.com/.

3. I will teach students to do a good research by showing them an example with details. For example, first, you need to choose a topic for your research. Next, you need a plan before doing a research. You have to think the thesis statement of your research. Based on your thesis, you have to find good sources through the internet. After you found a source, evaluate the source is good or not by using the guidelines that I provided at class. Cite all of your sources at the end to avoid plagiarism. This website teaches students how to do research in a fun way http://www.kyvl.org/kids/homebase.html. I will show students this pictures while I am teaching them. Also, I will show them the slides of teaching research skills on this website http://www.slideshare.net/aislater/teaching-research-skills.

4.The strategy that I used to find the sources is through google.com. I typed the key words and searched for the information that I wanted. For example, when I was looking for research skills, I typed "teaching research skills". It showed a lot of different websites that are related to the key words. I usually looked for .org or .edu websites first. For example, www.flc.losrios.edu/libraries/ or
www.texaspsp.org If the inforamtion doesn't match I looked for, I will look for other websites. I also like the websites that educators shared their teaching skills and experiences on forum or slides to get some ideas. For example, http://www.slideshare.net/aislater/teaching-research-skills. There are a lot of good sources to look for on google.com.

5. First, I will read and think about the information that I found. I will evaluate the quality of the information that I found by thinking if the information fit my topic and students' needs. Also, I will look at other people's comments if it is provided. I usually search for the .org or .edu websites because they are more credible. I sometimes ask my instructor and re-read the information that I found before I trust or use the information.

Personal philosophy of teaching with technology

Technology is a gift for teachers and learners to see the world even inside the classroom.  It is also a big step for the educational field because it makes teaching easier. Teachers can find almost everything from the internet and show them to the students at class. For example, we cannot go out to the space and learn about the solar system but we can find out from the internet. Technology is totally a blessing in teaching.

Using technology resources in the classroom

I was looking for some useful resources from the internet that I can  use them in the classroom. There are a lot of great resources that will help in my future class such as lesson plans, strategies, and tools. I would like to share three things here. The first one is teachingenglish.org.uk 
This website provides a lot of different lesson plans in teaching English. For example, there is a lesson plan about writing class journal. The aim of this lesson plan  journals are to build the writing habit, by doing several journal writing activities during the class and to reflect on learning and to discuss this in class. The whole plan is focusing on the aims to teach. It is very useful.

The second one is 
americanenglish.state.gov
This is another website that provides teaching resources such as teaching skills and theme. There are some skills like grammar, critical thinking, and process writing. They are definitely will be a benefit in teaching. 
The third one is
ielanguages.com
This is another website that provides plenty of lesson plans This one is different because it also contains worksheet for each topic. Students can do the exercises for practice.
 
 I think all of them are very useful and will be a great resource in teaching English. The one that I think it's most useful is the first website I mentioned. The lesson plans are well-organized. Each one includes the teaching materials, discussion, and class activities. It will help the lesson move smoothly. 

Google resources

We tried a lot of different things in Google lately, such as presentation, and google forms. This week I checked out Google in Education, and it is an useful tool for educator. In Google in Education, it has a lot of things we can explore, such as google Apps for Education (free email and collaboration for schools), education resources (educator guides for Google products, and other magical tools), lesson plan (lesson plans and curricula). The google apps seems like very useful, and will benefits a lot in education. I found something pretty useful called google maps for education. Teachers can use this in the classroom to explore the order side of the world. Students can explore the world without leaving the classroom.(http://maps.google.com/help/maps/education/learn/index.html) Also, I really like using google drive. It makes things easier. Students do not have to email their assignment to the teachers. They can just finish their work by using the words, forms, and presentations tools in google, and share them with their teachers. Also, they can choose to share their works with other classmates. It will help them to learn from each other by giving comments, and sharing. I think google will be a great source for me to teach in the future.

Presentations for future classroom

This week I learned more about how to use technology to prepare for the presentation. Most of the teachers love to use powerpoint for their presentations because it is a easy way to show the information to the students. Today, the teacher showed us the two different style of the powerpoint presentations. I realized that if the teacher makes a creative powerpoint such as putting more pictures, making it colorful instead of only putting whole bunch of information, it will help the students to focus and think of the questions instead of only copying the information from the powerpoint. I checked out some websites about some ideas for making a creative powerpoint. Here are some ideas:

• Use catchy images and slides instead of full paragraphs and bullet points
• Use metaphor in PowerPoint
• Use quotations and cite the authors
• Use representative charts
• Make an exercise for your audience
• Make a demonstration
• Ask for collaboration, generate interaction between the audience
  
  Source: http://www.free-power-point-templates.com/articles/create-better-presentations-using-creative-ideas/
  
  I really like the idea to put some more pictures that related to the topic. Generally, students will pay more attention if there are more pictures than words. I remembered when the teacher was using the powerpoint at class, I would either copying or staring at the screen. Teaching will be more effective if the students think more instead of only reading and copying from the powerpoint.

Bring technology into classroom

I like the idea to use or share digital cameras and images in class because it can visualize the lesson or the object. It will help students to understand the lesson easily. Also, it will make the lesson more interesting and fun to learn. Nowadays, students love using technology to learn instead of only sitting in the classroom and listening a lecture. Digital cameras or images can be a very useful tools to teach students. I found a great websites which provides a lot of different ideas to use these technologies. For example: Use photos to illustrate vocabulary, feelings, and compare/contrast concepts. Use digital cameras to record short video clips.Add photos to class newsletter, written projects, and presentations. The website is http://www.southpanola.k12.ms.us/How-To/DIGCAM%20Ideas%20for%20Teachers.pdf. All of the ideas are great and it will help my future students. I found a good picture to show how a teacher can touch a student's life by teaching, helping them to learn, and love them.

Original source: http://images.cdn.fotopedia.com/flickr-157363377-original.jpg

Useful websites for online safety

There are a lot of great websites about online safety for children, teenagers and parents. They are really helpful since there are a lot more issues are going on because of the Internet. Most of the teenagers like to text or chat on cell phones or Internet. Parents should be aware of it because as I talked about the privacy problem on my last post. Parents are definitely have responsibility to help their children to use the technology correctly. I was checking out a lot of different websites about online safety. One of them is very good for parents because it explains some technologies that teenagers are using the most now. Parents can get more ideas such as blogging, chat rooms, and cell-phone. Also, it talks about what "Cyber-bullying" is, and how to help children. The website is http://www.netsmartz.org/EmailChatAndIM. Parents can learn more about the Internet stuff. There is another website has some videos for teenagers, parents or teachers to watch about how we can protect ourselves while we are using the Internet. It talks about the website will never ask about their password or too personal information. We should all be aware of it, and be smart. The website is http://www.ikeepsafe.org/educators/more/google-digital-literacy-tour/. It will be awesome for teenagers and parents to watch.

Be aware of online safety guidelines

Nowadays, most children are growing in an "Internet world". Internet is a really good resource for kids to learn and find information to increase their knowledge. It is totally different from how I learned when I was little.Technology provides an easy and convenient way for children to learn. Also, people can make friends from the Internet. There are a lot of chatting websites or apps for people chat with their friends online. However, as an educator or a parent may be concerned about the safety of their children and also their private information may get stolen. Generally, most of the websites or apps need the user provide their personal information such as real name, e-mail, and phone number etc. Some of those information may be stolen by somebody because you never knew who has view your profile. Also, parents may not aware of who their kids is talking with. Online dating is pretty common now. A person chat with a stranger online for a while, and then they will hang out. If the parents are not aware of what is happening with their children, it may cause problems like the safety of their children. Therefore, parents have responsibility to know how their kids using the Internet especially the chatting websites or apps, and teach them to use the Internet properly.

Interesting ideas to teach

I am still learning how to use Pinterest and Diigo but I found a lot of interesting stuff about education, and teaching skills while I was checking out the websites. On my first post, I talked about I want to be more creative in order to be a better teacher. I found a lot of great ideas to teach, and possibly will make my class more fun and more effective to help my students to learn in the future. For example, I found one of the teacher's blog on Pinterest. She shares about "Reading is Thinking". Most of the people especially little children are not interested in reading. However, as a teacher, I can make them to think in order to read only. She made a poster to show all the different things going on inside the reader's head. In this way, it will make it visualized to the kids what is happening inside their brain while they are reading. The next time when they read, they will focus more on what they think not only read through the whole book. They can learn how to find their answers through reading and also it will increase their reading quality. I am excited to look up more teaching skills from other teachers.

Source: http://teachertrap.blogspot.com/

The most influential person in my learning journey

When I have a question about teaching, most of the time I will turn to my teacher and classmates. The teacher knows a lot about that specific subject or topic so he/she is a good way to turn to and ask him/her. However, it is hard to find the teacher when I am doing my assignment or studying sometimes, my next source is my classmates. I like study group. Studying together is a good way because a group of classmates gather together to share their views and opinions, it will make a difference. I can always learn from them. Sometimes, the answer may not correct but we can discuss together and ask the teacher during class. Another good way to find my answer is check out the information from the internet. The internet is a good source to learn. It may give me some thoughts about my question. The most influential person in my personal learning network is my mission president. I served in the New York Rochester Mission. One important thing I learned from him is his attitude and his passion in teaching. Also, if I want to be a powerful teacher, I have to increase my knowledge, and be educated so I can be a better teacher. He did not teach me anything about academic but he taught me about the attitude of teaching and teach with power. I can share to my future students that teaching can change people's life.I never wanted to be a teacher but he influenced me a lot during my mission. He is an excellent teacher I ever met. He has so much passion in teaching, and also he teaches with power every time. When he is speaking, everyone will turn to him and listen and ponder. I just want to be a teacher like him in the future. He is an example for me to learn.

To be an effective teacher

When I was growing up, I met a lot of different teachers, and they taught me different subjects. I did learn a lot from each of them. However, my most memorable learning experience from my teachers is those teaching through creative activities. It is always hard for the students to sit in the classroom all day long. Most of them are not paying attention. I think the most important thing I need to learn right now is learn to be more creative in order to be an effective teacher. I am not a very creative person. I think something I should pursue to learn is learning from other people like my teachers and classmates to improve my teaching skills. Being creative is one of the important teaching skills. Knowing the knowledge is important but teaching people the knowledge I have learned through different creative activities is more important. I want my future students to feel that they want to be in my class instead of  they have to be there.