Write a reflection on your blog highlighting what you learned to create and how you plan on using your site or how you will teach others to create a site.
Getting Started on making a Google Site involved:
- Add Text to a page
- Change font, color, size of text
- Link text to a website
- Change Layout of a page
- Create a site
- Share a site
- Find Format Tools
- Add Pages to website
Getting Going skills on the Checklist involve:
- Insert Images from web
- Insert images from computer files
- Insert Google Docs
- add playable YouTube videos
- Add a "Daily Agenda" announcement page
- Add image from your cell phone quickly
- I know what site gadgets are, can change their size, and page orientation
- Make a text wrap around image and change size of image
To be a "Ninja":
- embed things
- Add Twitter Feed
- Customize all visuals about the site, colors, background images, header on title, etc.
- Make it so a student can only edit one page
- Add custom search bar
- Publish website as a template
I have always had the intention of having an accessible site for my students and parents. I began my search for such a resource in the SY of 2007-2008 by providing an online gradebook for our teachers that had email capability and posting links to assignments. We have been using the online gradebook program since SY 2008-2009 schoolwide. My hope is that I can get my Google Site up and running for my classes and train our teachers on how to at least have a site with the bare minimal of what we were taught in this class (getting going and creating a 'Home' page, 'Agenda', and 'Calendar'). I think what would get some "buy-in" would be how this is terrific evidence for our Core Professionalism in the EES and it greatly supports and builds communication with our stakeholders.
Satta-Ellis' Google Site
http://www.edudemic.com/best-teacher-blogs
Assignment: Explore the blogs from teachers in the field based on your interests and
Blog Post: Share one blog that you particularly enjoy and what you learned from reading it. Also, reflect on the status of action research project, challenges, etc.
This article, 25 Brilliant Teacher Blogs Worth Following, mentioned there are hundreds of blogs that teachers can check out, it even encouraged its readers to start blogs. The list of blogs they provided gave a little inspiration to start one or at least maintain one.
As I clicked on the different blog, looking for one that was related to social studies, I noticed a few things from each of these blogs, and consider these as characteristics of why they are "brilliant":
- visuals enhance text
- posts are like journals reviewing resources and other sites
- hyperlinks provide quick access to references used or discussed
- organized by date of entry
I didn't feel like they were as brilliant as the ones my classmates have made however. This is probably because I could not relate to the authors and my classmates provide good if not better, resources.
The only blog that I remotely liked was@TeacherToolkit for it was easy to read, short, and its contents were like lists ("7 facts","5 Wonders", etc.). This easy to read and access format reminded me of the kinds of Facebook posts that I would click on as it stirred my interests. Similar to BuzzFeed news and social content that I enjoy reading as they are short and easy to read.
Update on Action Research:
There is a bit of a snag in the implementation of gathering final data as my class set of Chromebooks are still being updated by our tech. I will now have to squeeze my students into our library lab for some computer time or hope that assigning an ACHIEVE 3000 article as homework will be suffice.
Link to Action Research Presentation
