Sommer+Taylor

1181052747 Sommer Taylor sommer18@ku.edu

I earned a BSE in 2005 in Sport Management, then worked as the Marketing Coordinator at Kansas Speedway for almost two years before coming back to school. Currently, I am a senior in Secondary English and I would like to teach Writing for the College Bound and Creative Writing to juniors and seniors in Lawrence or Olathe.

My experience with technology has been limited to word processing, excel, internet explorer, myspace and youtube. My sister works for ALTEC in instructional technology and has given me great tips for incorporating resources into the classroom. After seeing the work she does, I feel it is extremely important to have technology available to all students to enhance learning and communication.

A few months ago my sister was working with a class of elementary students, and they each were seated at a computer when pornography popped up on the screen...hopefully that will be the worst tech horror story I will know!

I would like to learn any technology that will help me communicate information to students such as assignments and grades. I want students and their parents to know at all times what is expected of every student.

http://www.mariner.org/educationalad/ageofex/columbus.php This website is clear and concise. There are very few links scattered throughout the page, which makes the site more user-friendly. Overall, it contains a great deal of information, but the simplicity makes it easier to navigate. In addition, the text and pictures are in line and clearly visible without any extra effort to find needed information. A table of contents page is also located in the upper right-hand corner, where people would usually look for it. If I were to change one thing about this site, I would place the links along the top of the page or on the left side. Currently, they are at the bottom, but I don't think most people would look for them there. One must search through the entire page to find the links at the bottom, whereas placing them at the top would seem more logical.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/c/columbus.shtml There are way too many ways to do a search on this website. It could be potentially confusing for students or any user to know how to search for an explorer such as Columbus. They can search alphabetically, by year or by name with multiple listings of each category. The structure of the site is also not done well. Text and pictures do not line up throughout the page which can make accessing information more difficult if one does not know exactly where to look. The random rows and columns make the site appear jumbled and unkempt.

I used Google to do a search on Christopher Columbus and found it to be quite helpful. By typing anything other than his full name, my computer pulled up many other Columbus items, so including "Christopher" narrowed the search, making it easier to find what I was looking for. In my opinion, the more reliable sites were the museums where one can assume scholarly people were creating the site and providing the information. When someone from the general public creates a site, they can put any information on it they want to, which can often be unreliable.

Instructional websites should be clear and concise; they should be easy to navigate for any user. These sites should not have ads of any kind that can be distracting to students when they are searching for information. Instructional websites can be interactive, but too many graphics can also be distracting to users. These graphics must be in line and should not interfere with text. It is also extremely important to check the page for accurate information which can often be found from educational institutions. Christina touched on this when she talked about restricting her search to .edu sites only. These sites are typically great sources with accurate, scholarly information. Other sites can include the same information, but it is best to stick with sources that you as a teacher know are reliable. I believe Christina was accurate in her identification of a bad site because the it had too many advertisements and no graphics at all. Students want pictures or graphs of some kind to help identify certain materials and better thier understanding.



Summary June 8, 2007
Inspiration is a program that can be used by teachers as a "basic diagram-making tool." You can layout your wiki as a site map through this program. One option is to click on "outline," and begin typing out a basic outline of your wiki layout. If you don't want to begin with the "outline," you can also start with "diagram" or pre-made "templates." If you go to "outline" first, click "topic" every time you have a new topic, and if you want a subtopic beneath that, click "subtopic." You may then click on "diagram" and the outline will automatically appear in diagram format. By clicking "arrange," you can alter the appearance of the outline by making a tree or web format. Clink on "link" to generate an arrow between topics on your diagram. A major benefit of this program is the mobility of objects within your diagram. To move an object, just click and drag it to a new location.

There are many different shapes, sizes and colors that help identify sections or opposing topics. These should always be used to improve clarity for students. You may also click on "Libraries" to see pictures and other icons that can be added to a diagram. Links help users navigate, so too many links can be overwhelming with too much information. Three links is ideal. As a rule of thumb, do not use more than ten links to a page, because your information will become too crowded. Everything should be broken up into sections, such as Home, People, Summary, Help, Talk, Projects, and Syllabus. Each of these may then have subtopics.

Assignment: Create a word doc of a syllabus/policy for wiki use, then create a site map in Inspiration. Wiki Stylesheet is like a master template that allows you to change the layout of your wiki, but for now we will be working on creating the basic outline of the content. Go to Wiki Policy to see good and bad intentions of a wiki. This will help you determine what content should be within your wiki to benefit students the most. Information should be clear and organized. When organizing your information, go to Standards in Unit 4 to be sure you are preparing material to teach that will fit the state standards for your class. Motivation for creating a wiki can include not enough resources such as texts or generating a way to make class more entertaining for students. Students can provide excellent ideas for projects by contributing to the wiki. Behavioral expectations of a wiki can include expectations for students and parents to check for summaries and assignments. The wiki is a teaching tool, learning tool and an evaluation tool.

Podcasts: There is no user error because the user doesn’t actually do anything…the information is automatically downloaded to the ipod. Three main steps to using podcasts: 1. Get materials needed to record and decide what you want to record 2. Export as an mp3 3. Find a place to host

Audacity is a program that allows users to record audio and visual information to their computer. You can record a phone call or CD, or create new material. If you make an error when recording, you do not have to re-record the entire message like you do on an answering machine. You must have a microphone in order to use Audacity. “Effects” can do noise removal, repeat or reverse sounds, fade in/out, etc. To export to an mp3: Search for “lame audacity” in Google in order to download. Go to File and Export file to mp3 and save.

[|www.podomatic.com] will host your mp3 for you and create an RSS for free. They do everything for you. Individual podcasts are called episodes. Click to Post New Episode. Enter a title and tag such as “podcasts.” There are less editing capabilities than there are in Audacity. Import and upload.

=Student Use of Wiki=

The wiki is intended to be a technological tool that will be used by all students enrolled in the course. It is an added resource to classroom materials already put in place, such as textbooks, presentations and in-class notes. The wiki is an opportunity for students to generate ideas for projects and have ownership in the course. This will help students to develop skills and increase learning in the subject area. They will be exposed to different forms of technology and taught how to use these programs appropriately. It is an opportunity for students to become more familiar with technology that they will be required to use when they go to college or into the working world. Parents will be able to access the wiki with a designated password in order to check for assignments and check the activities of the course.
 * Motivations:**

Students will use the wiki to gain information in order to modify and improve documents. Students will post helpful websites and sources to the wiki which will be a research tool to find information that should be included in all papers. The site will encourage creativity through design of project layouts and presentations using graphics, color, videos and originality. They will become proficient in the use of a wiki page through repeated use in the class and will gain a valuable understanding of how to navigate a web page when doing research. Activity on the wiki is open to all students in the class, and the instructor will monitor all postings. Students will be expected to post class material to the wiki on at least a weekly basis. This may include online assignments, projects, quizzes or class summaries. Class discussions will be held on the Talk page of the wiki and each student will need to post at least one question and one answer per week. Every student will be expected to generate their own page at the beginning of the course including basic contact information, a photo, and any personal hobbies or information they would like to share with the class. Students will be able to access the wiki from any computer at home, the library, computer labs, during class, during seminar, or before or after school. This is not a social website. All posts and contacts made on the wiki must be relevant to the class. Students may not discuss other classes or activities, post negative comments about other students, or discuss their plans for the weekend. Improper use of the wiki will result in a deduction of grade as well as a parent/teacher/student conference to discuss the misuse.
 * Expectations:**

Proper usage of the wiki should always be categorized into one of the following areas: teaching tool, learning tool or evaluation tool. The wiki is a teaching tool that allows the teacher to post comments about class instructions, assignments, and a link to grades. Anyone who misses class will be able to go to the wiki to receive class summaries and descriptions of new material. It will be a learning tool for students to receive additional help with assignments outside the classroom, by providing a secure place for them to visit online to get accurate information relating to the class. Students will use the site to email the teacher and other students in the course to ask questions and discuss literature introduced in the course. The wiki is a place where students will be expected to share information with their peers regarding research and sources for understanding course assignments. Finally, the wiki will be used as an evaluation tool. Assignments will be given that require students to go to the wiki and they will be given grades based on their performance. Students will post their own page to the wiki as well as presentations, literature discussions, and activity ideas. This will give students a sense of ownership of the class as they will help facilitate most discussions and help answer each others questions.
 * Outline of Student Use:**

Students will post material to the wiki as part of their grade in the class and that material will be judged based on quality, quantity and timeliness. Students will also be evaluated based on their efforts to problem-solve and their effectiveness of communication. If an access problem exists, then students will need to notify the teacher the following day of class. Grading of projects will be done on a rubric scale that will be provided to students at the time the assignment is given. A student who misses class is expected to check the site that evening for homework assignments and a class summary of the day’s activities. Grades will be based on the following scale: A 90-100, B 80-89, C 70-79, D 60-69, F 59 and below
 * Evaluation of Student Use:**



englishkansas.wikispaces.com

The Taming of the Shrew Bianca is a soft-spoken young lady with a gentle heart. She is in love and wants to get married with the large dowry her father has saved for her. She enjoys the arts including school and music and gets tutored in both. She can be an independant woman, but is mostly gentle and very in love. Bianca tries to be respectful of her older sister, Katherine, but finds her shrewness to be a bit much.

To fold paper into an airplane, take one 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper and fold it in half lengthwise. Hold down the end of the seem with one hand, then take your other hand and grab a hold of the top corner. Pull the corner down to the seem and line up the edges, and fold along the hypotenuse, making a sharp point in the corner. This will be the tip of the airplane. Continue to hold the corner (the tip of the airplane), and fold the paper over again to line up the top edge with the bottom seem, making a sharp point in the corner. Do this one more time by folding the top edge down and lining it up with the bottom seem, making a sharp point in the corner. Flip the paper over so the folded side is down, and repeat all the steps so the two sides are a mirror image. Grap the airplane by holding on to the bottom center and lifting out the top wings on either side.

Bit Torrent - cuts up file into small pieces. The more people who download it, the faster the file downloads. P2P (Peer to Peer) old keys requires fast connection and must know the person has the material you want Napster - illegal