Addison's EME2040 Blog

      I have had a lot of experience with distance learning throughout my K-12 years. COVID started when I was in 7th grade, and the last quarter of that year was done entirely with distance learning. Classes were held over zoom, and all my assignments had to be submitted online. It was an odd experience and quite the adjustment at the time. During 8th grade, I was introduced to hybrid classes. Half of my classmates were on Zoom, while the rest of us were sitting in the classroom in person. Those two years were not my favorite. I personally wasn’t a fan of distance learning like that; I could never focus over zoom. In high school, I was introduced to FLVS and SCVS, two different online school options. I was able to take classes online and still go in person. This ended up being a huge help for me, allowing me to take a period or two off in the morning while still taking all my necessary classes. Virtual classes like this weren’t the easiest way for me to learn, I had no...

    I learned a lot of skills from the website design assignment. I made a website during my freshman year of high school, but it was primarily pre-made and I just used it to upload photos for my photography class. This assignment was a lot more in depth and required me to learn a lot of new skills such as how to embed videos and images, and how to change the format to fit my vision. I also had to take into consideration the principles of design when making my website. Most of the principles were easy to incorporate, such as repetition and alignment. The website themes were preformatted to use the same fonts and have alignment that made sense. Contrast was a little harder. The banner I used for the headers and background was a little harder to have contrast on since there were a lot of lighter colors. There were different shapes and colors that I had to figure out where to position so they wouldn't clash with the words that are important.  QR codes are a great tool for ...

 https://tinyurl.com/TeachTedTalk This is a TedTalk by Dawn Taylor that discusses the ways teachers roles in education are changing. Teachers aren't just there to teach knowledge, but to help teach this knowledge while developing skills in students such as communication and critical thinking. He emphasizes the need for supporting teacher development and collaboration. 

  Most of the teachers' websites are very bare and do not contain a lot of information. Most either have information on how to contact them, or a little blip about them and their teaching experience. A few of the websites have good information in regard to the course such as expectations or supplies required. A more personalized website with more information on classes would be great for teachers, however these quick blips are good for a public page where anybody can look. They contain the most important information, such as contact information, they just aren’t very personalized. There are so many great online resources for teachers that I plan on using when I become an elementary teacher. There are online planners, calendars, generative AI, Canva, random name wheels, and so so much more. There are a lot of options that I can use to plan and organize teaching material to help make things a little easier. There are also great options that I can use in the classroom for teachi...

  I had a great time touring the Tech Sandbox last week. I learned about a lot of resources that I didn’t know were available to me. We got to see the 3D printer and pens, the coding robots, the touch screens, coding Legos, and smart bands that can sense your stress levels. It was really cool seeing all of the different forms of technology and imagining how they can be implemented in classrooms. It was also fun to just play around with the tech and explore it. I used coding robots such as Kibo in my preschool classes I taught, and the kids really loved them. I think coding robots are a great way to teach a wide variety of skills including directions, motor skills, and coding basics and having the kids be able to see their work pay off. I would love to implement them in my future classes, maybe a more challenging robot with some more advanced coding aspects for older grades. 3D printers are also really useful for students and teachers alike. It can be used to teach students great ...

  This is my first time blogging, and it’s harder than I imagined. It’s difficult to come up with things to write about, while making it fun and engaging for readers, an art I don’t think I’ve mastered quite yet. I do think my current experience with blogging is more difficult than that of a normal blogger. We’re given prompts that explain exactly what we need to write about. Real bloggers need to come up with their own prompts and figure out what they’re writing all on their own. So far, I enjoy blogging, I think it’s fun writing down my thoughts on certain matters, though I do think it’s challenging,       The use of AI in education settings is a new and emerging concept. With the rise of AI comes a rise in challenges for teachers. There are questions about ethics and how to incorporate it into learning and how it’s changing classrooms. AI has many potential benefits for k-12 classrooms. It can provide more personalized learning for students, create classroo...