JOURNAL CHAPTER ONE TERMS:

Project ReimaginED is an online resource center and discussion for teachers to access resources
that align with Common Core and ISTE Standards. Personally, I think this is an interesting
resource that could become useful in the future, however, I’m not sure if I would use it unless I
was looking for specific things within the context of a specific standard.
EdTekHub is a blog for people involved in Education and has resources from lots of different
people with emphases on different subject matters. Personally, I do not think I would use it a lot,
however, occasionally I could see it as a good resource. I could see myself accessing it in
reference to a few articles here and there but I do not think I would use it as a frequent resource.
ISTE Connects is a collaborative website in which professionals have discussions on all kinds
of edtech topics such as technology, STEM, literacy, as well as gaming & simulations. I think
this is a pretty cool thing. Educators giving experiences and opinions on different topics that
every educator has to come into contact with in some way or another through the standards. I
think it’s pretty cool and honestly, I’m much more of a discussion person than I am a blog
person.
AECT Standards, or the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, is a set
of standards created to promote the use of educational learning through technology and as a basis
of learning for different kinds of standards. It’s inevitable that as a teacher I am going to run into
technology and I think it could be useful for keeping myself up to understanding the technology
and in turn using the standards to use technology for my students. I am not sure how often I
would use them, but the idea is there, and I appreciate that some people are very passionate in the
areas of technology.
Common Core Standards Initiative is an initiative that was brought forth in the state
legislations to have a basis for learning for each grade K-12 by the end of the school year or term
in order to equip students with the knowledge they need for college. Idaho has adopted the
standards and so long as I plan on teaching within Idaho or nearly anywhere in the Northwest I
will have to adapt and use these standards in every fundamental piece of my teaching.
U.S. Department of Education is a cabinet-level department in the United States government
that is responsible for regulating, creating policy for educational funding to education around the
country. This is something that is very important to me, as I receive funding for the FAFSA and
thus my schooling is aided through the help of the U.S. Department of Education. As I begin my
career in education, everything that occurs in the legislation of policy and at the department level
will affect everything about my job. It’s very important to continue to pay attention to this.
Teacher Certification Map allows people aspiring to be educators follow a state-specific plan
and track their way to a successful start in their career. I struggle with keeping track of all the
things I need to do a lot and I truly believe this can be very helpful in eliminating some of that
stress. I think it is a fabulous way for students and educators-to-be to keep track of their progress
and know what comes next for them. I will definitely be hanging onto this resource!
PBS Teacherline is an online resource for teachers to continue in their professional development
with classes on science, reading, social studies, math, teaching strategies, and instructional
technology. I know as a teacher you’re always looking for new ways to develop and further your
career and having a resource that is easily accessible.
Edutopia is a site that stores a successful collection of activities and lessons so that teachers can
see what works for other students and teachers in classrooms and excites them for learning. I
think this is such an awesome site and I am sure I will use it. I think a collaboration between
teachers of all kinds is such a great opportunity for success in the classroom.
Atomic Learning is a website that prepares all students, faculty, and staff for further success in
whatever they are doing with online resources in the following: compliance training, technology
training, student success, and faculty development. There is something for everybody! I think if
the people I worked with recommended it or if I ended up in higher education I might consider
using it. I don’t think it is something at the top of my list, since there are other options out there
for personal development I would be more inclined to use those. I appreciate the resource,
however.
Wordle is a program that takes a bunch of words and creates a “cloud” based off of the
prominence of words from the list provided. You can change the layout and look of the wordle
depending on the use its going to have. I remember being in elementary school and making
wordles in the computer lab. I also remember my history teacher in high school made some
wordles with two colors and we had to choose maybe ten terms from each color and define and
connect them to the other color for our tests. I could see myself using it in very specific
situations its just not something I would use all of the time.
Prezi is a website/app that allows students to create presentations online that can be easily shared
to teachers and other students. In my opinion, I would definitely give prezi as an option for my
students. I know sometimes it is really difficult to share powerpoint slides for some students and
they might just prefer to use prezi because of its accessibility online and the format.
Museum Box is now called Museum in a Box. The site is dedicated to bringing the objects and
history directly to the classroom and give students access to important information and pictures
to learn as if they were in a real museum. It brings the information to the classroom in a simple
and efficient way to help teachers instruct successfully. I love history and I love the idea of this
site. I really think this is a super cool way to engage kids in historical information and give them
access to some really cool and simply explained pictures of artifacts. Definitely keeping this in
my pocket for later!
Scholastic Class Set up is an online resource that allows teachers to create customized
classroom setups and seating charts that are printable and easy to create with basic shapes. The
only downfall I can see is if your classroom has a weird shape, since you can only choose
between rectangular and square classroom designs. I also think personally, I wouldn’t use it just
because I really enjoy being artsy and I would rather draw it out and personalize it myself. I can
see it being useful for other teachers who want a simple outline for their classrooms.
Microsoft Photo Story is a computer program that takes photos and videos paired with music
for personalized videos based off of a specific theme. I do not think that I would use this
personally, I cannot see a way to use it within my classroom. It seems more like something you
could do outside of the school environment. I am sure there is some way teachers can incorporate
them into the class, however, I don’t think I will.
Microsoft Office PowerPoint is a program that allows users to create personalized presentations
and share easily among other people. The program has been around for a while and I have used it
so many times throughout my schooling. In my opinion, I would definitely give this as an option
to students to use in projects and reports alongside with the app/website prezi.
Empressr is a presentation application that allows for users to create online presentations with
different kinds of media incorporated, similar to Microsoft PowerPoint. This seems like a viable
option alongside PowerPoint and Prezi and I would definitely allow my students to use it if they
wanted to. I have no objections to the idea of using it and it could be really cool.
Thinkfinity is a free teaching resource that houses lesson plans and learning tools approved by
the top educational organizations in the country. After looking into this resource, I think it could
be a really interesting tool to use in the classroom! Knowing that the lesson plans and interactive
tools have been reviewed and recommended by the experts makes me less uneasy about
searching for useable materials through thinkfinity.
Curriki is a global online community that houses lesson plans designed by other teachers to
inspire learning and connect teachers to one another. Personally, I think this is a great idea and I
love that you do not have any obligation to pay for lesson plans, instead, you can post your
lesson plans and share with others and get feedback. I would definitely consider using this
resource. The name is a bit difficult to remember but if I ever look back on these terms I will be
able to reference it again.
The 10 Minute Lesson Planner is a free lesson planning tool that allows teachers to organize
their thoughts and train themselves to think purposefully in their lesson planning so that they can
spend less time on frustrated planning and still produce great quality lessons. This is almost like
a challenge and I love the idea of being able to spend less time on things like lesson planning. I
would definitely access this resource!
Animoto is a video creator tool that allows for personalized video production in an easy and
simple templated way with easy sharing access. It does cost money which is somewhat of a
bummer, but I think overall it’s really cool. I do not think I would use it, personally, but I think it
could be really useful in higher education (high school and college).
ClassDojo is a classroom tool that allows the teacher to interact with both parents and students
by allowing teachers to create and individualize their online classroom and connect them
throughout the day to include parents into the educational environment of the classroom and
allow them to be part of the system as teachers post about the classroom and its activities. I think
in an elementary setting classdojo could be perfect to use, but as you get into the older
classroom, I think it would become less of an important tool seeing as students need to start
learning they are the controllers of their own education and as they gain that independence the
parents don’t need the same kind of involvement as when the children are younger.
Edmodo is similar to class dojo, in that it is a classroom community created to elicit discussion,
provide communication between teachers and students, and keep the learning going beyond the
walls of the classroom. When I was in high school, our English teacher used this to post a nightly
discussion maybe twice a week to keep the class discussing after school ended. I think I would
use it! It’s a really cool app/website and I really enjoyed it as a student.
Edublog is a blog which encourages collaboration and gives teachers resources for learning and
helping students achieve higher-order thinking and aids teachers in gathering skills that could
help them in the classroom setting. I think personally, I don’t think I would use edublog,
however, I think it could be a really great resource for collaborative teachers in general.
Engrade is designed to inspire students and towards success through science and teaching
methods from preK to higher education. I think depending on curriculum this could be a useful
resource, however, I don’t know enough about the content to decide whether or not I would use
it in my classroom as of right now.
National Teacher Training Institute is an organization that holds seminars across the nation to
inform educators about technology and trains them on how to use technology effectively within a
classroom to ensure the success of learning. I think this could be a really cool way to have some
career advancement and could be useful when teaching and needing information on new ways to
use technology. I am not sure when this could be present locally but I think its interesting to
know that something like that is out there.