Summary of attendance

I attended two workshops in the College of Ed with Anne Beck. In the first one we learned how to make books using the app Toontastic. I made one about friendship and solving problems. Next I attended a workshop on meme's and how they are created and can be used in the classroom. 

I went to a training offered by my work which taught us how to manage difficult behavior in children and then I went to a workshop which dealt with using the app Toontastic. I learned in the first workshop that students need to be given clear directions and they should be offered multiple options when they are having negative behavior. I can apply this to being a teacher when students are misbehaving. I can look back on this information and know the four different ways to help students and redirect the behavior to make it more positive. At the Toontastic workshop, I learned about a new app that helps students to be able to learn through making cartoons. There are many different ways that teachers would be able to have students use the app in an educational way. I would hope to be able to incorporate this app into my future classroom to be able to teach things like math and science. 

My first professional development workshop, "Create Commotion with Stop Motion," was a fantastic way to learn how to use the app "KomaKoma." This app let you create a small clip of combined pictures in "motion." The cool thing about using KomaKoma is the ability to create whatever you want by using your imagination! My peers and I used play-do to create our story-line and short clip. I created a blue snowman who was in search of finding a "bottom" to his snowball. I think using this app for kids is a fantastic way to let them explore and use their imagination at such a young age. This app was also very easy to use, so having kids at such a young age work this app wouldn't be difficult. For my future classroom, I could see myself using this app with many different subjects. For example, using KomaKoma to create a clip of the moon going through its phases would be a great visual for older kids to use and express their knowledge. Overall, I would rate this app an E from it's easy accessibility, ability to export, and overall quality.

My second professional development workshop, "Booksnaps," taught the class how to use an app like Snapchat to annotate and edit literature pieces. The idea of booksnaps was to engage kids in reading and comprehension through a media source that is a big part of their life. Snapchat is used by many young teens and students today, so this activity is very applicable to today's classroom environment. Booksnaps works by taking a picture of a piece of text on snapchat, and editing through drawing, adding emojis, or text. Once you are done annotating that specific text, you can add that piece to your story. The overall final product of booksnaps is to have a story of several annotated pages on your story for your peers to review and comment on. Booksnaps is a very creative way to get students motivated to read and annotate through a hobby that many enjoy, Snapchat. Although, I believe having Snapchat in the classroom for educational purposes can lead to students becoming sidetracked and distracted from their work. Overall, I would rate this app an S for its accessibility, ability to comment and share with peers, and potential to interfere with schoolwork.

I learned how to blog from Scott Haselwood. I learned exactly what blogging is because I assumed it was just like a diary. He explained that blogging as a teacher is important especially in this day and age because teachers need a voice. He explained that blogging is great to be able to share your ideas, struggles, experiences as a teacher. Not only that but you can search blogs to find resources for myself as a teacher. 

I learned how to start a blog. I also learned there are many platforms to start a blog. I started my own tumblr blog as well. 

The first workshop I attended was "Tap into YOUR Creative Mind" by Tech Rabbi Michael Cohen. In this workshop, the importance of sketch-noting was described. Cohen showed examples of how to sketch-note, different useful apps for sketch-noting and why this is important. I learned that it was effective in allowing mindset and mechanics to work together, making learning visible and memorable. I think it will be very useful to use as a student, as it will be a creative way to study and remember information through classes, all whilst building my skill at sketch-noting (which Cohen emphasised that a lot of practice is needed). This information I learnt at the workshop and the new skill I am building on will be very useful as a future teacher as I can use this in the classroom, whether it be showing my own sketch-notes to my future class or even getting them to try it out, as it will ultimately help them to remember information, thus improving their learning. 

I learned how to use two great apps as educational tools in my future classroom.  The first app was a stop motion app called Koma Koma.  I enjoyed using this app, and I would like to use this in my classroom to allow students to write stories and bring them to life with the app.  The second app we used was Snapchat, which seems strange to use for educational purposes but it can be done!  We used Snapchat to take pictures of text we liked or did not like, and then we annotated it and added in emojis to show our reactions to them.  I think older kids will enjoy using an app they use for recreation for an educational purpose, and hopefully they can continue to make connections with their education in their daily lives using Snapchat.  As a student, I can see myself using both apps in my class work and during field experiences and tutoring to engage students.  

Rachel Lukaszek
Google Forms Workshop

I chose this workshop in particular because it fit with my schedule and because I am a part of an organizationon campus that I use Google Forms for, but always run into trouble with it. I am an avid Google Drive user and would love to continue using different Google programs that can benefit me in the classroom.
I chose this workshop in particular because it fit with my schedule and because I am a part of an organization on campus that I use Google Forms for, but always run into trouble with it. I am an avid Google Drive user and would love to continue using different Google programs that can benefit me in the classroom. Being an Elementary Education major, I was unsure going into the session how I could use this tool in my classroom. I liked the idea of using it as a center. Students could use the IPad to take a quiz and it will show students what questions they got right or wrong. Students enjoy using technology and Google Forms is a great tool for students to take a practice quiz or even a real one. Also I could use it to send to parents to fill out their contact information so that it is all online in one place. Another thing I learned, is how to copy and paste. This is silly that I did not know, however, I always went to “edit” “copy” “edit” “paste.” Mrs. Beck taught me how to use two fingers to copy and paste, which is way faster than the way I had been doing it. This in general will help me to be more efficient in my work. ALong with that, she taught me how to paste a picture without screen shotting or pulling the picture to my desktop. Overall, I found this workshop very helpful for myself, my future students, and classroom!

Shadow Puppets EDU

I chose this workshop because I had never heard of Shadow Puppets before and wanted to see what it was and how I could use it in my classroom. During this workshop, I learned how to best use this app to assist my students in not only reading, but every other subject. Mrs. Beck helped us to see how diversely the app could be used. She even showed an example done by her own children. I love this app because it is user friendly and children can use it easily. As a future teacher, I would like to use this app at a center for students to blend their creativity with their school work. It would be fun to use this app with Storybook Cubes as well. Overall, I found that this app is useful and will help my future students greatly!

I really enjoyed attending these, they're great and free! I have discovered so many useful apps that I can use in the classroom, and these apps are applicable to not only early education, but secondary, as well, which is really nice. I am not too creative myself, but Mrs. Beck provided many ideas and resources for each app. I appreciate that the College of Education provides these for students, I will definitely be attending these outside of this activity.