EDLD Week 5 Reflection Assignment

The course EDLD 5366 Digital Graphics and Web Design went from easy and fun to understand while other portions frustrated me. Finding a group to work with was manageable and I was able to reconnect with past classmates that I had worked with in other courses. Working in teams, I believe, was the best part of the course. I was able to share my input and academic products with others and I was able to get help from my team when I was stuck on the individual portion of weekly assignments. Omar and Patricia are two classmates that I enjoyed working with immensely and they made the website creation task easy since they both had previous experience. Our website is http://ovasquezlamar.wix.com/edld5366. Creating the animation video was enjoyable. I had never done one and enjoyed learning basic skills on how to create one. I am going to take what I have learned from this and challenge myself along with my students in creating two minute animation videos on different health topics. The readings had a lot of good information and the discussion board gave good insight into peer’s thoughts. When I first read that we had to come up with a brand for ourselves I hit a wall. The discussion board and readings about branding made me realize the concept of how early and important it is to start a personal brand. When Lead Alcantara explained, “A brand is an idea and perceived value formed by its intended audience” it was easier for students to understand how they are perceived by an audience, or in other words, friends, family, teachers, peers, and strangers. It is important to start this concept in elementary school. I am at a middle school and this is the age that students are starting to develop their branding without realizing it. I asked each student to write down key words that would explain who they are as a person. After they were done with the activity I had students reflect on two other students in the class, making sure to emphasize that it must be a positive reflection. After gathering information I put together a PowerPoint with the data collected to see if students could pick out which one was them. I did this the week after the branding assignment. Then went on to explain how this may affect their personal and professional lives because in business, it’s not only whether or not you know information, but how you are perceived by a company with the brand that they’re putting out there. Lastly, the principals of design was one of the significant areas of this class. Learning about Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity (CRAP) enlightened me on how to analyze logos and other designs of webpages and advertisements. Now when I visit a new website I analyze it using CRAP. I have also instructed my students to these guidelines, leaving out the acronym. I currently teach a Physical Education/ Health class where my students have received opportunities to create advertisements for different health related topics and share valuable information. I can easily see where what I learned from this course will improve my classroom and the time spent there with students for the better. Citation: Alcantara, L. (2009). The art of self-branding. Retrieved from http://www.lealea.net/blog/comments/the-art-of-self-branding-part-one/ YouTube video - Basic Layout and Design Principles for Webpages

Animation Video

EDLD 5366 week 2 discussion post

When do we start teaching students about self-branding?

 As a middle school teacher, I have noticed that some of my students are starting to create their own brand as they start to transition from kids to teen-agers. Many of them change what they believe their branding is going to be, but some would like to be seen in a different light. We need to make them understand the meaning of branding and how to brand themselves. Along with teaching them branding we need to show them how many company’s logos have evolved as the company evolved, just as a child’s brand should change as they grow and mature. What concepts about branding are important to teach?

Just as each company grows and evolves logos reflect change in the philosophy and direction the company is heading in. Students will also go through their own changes as they grow as teen-ager into adults. A logo that highlights their uniqueness, a student should see that their own uniqueness is an attribute, not a disadvantage. In an environment where children try hard to fit in and follow the crowd, introducing them to how brand and teaching the wonders of being your own unique self and celebrating that uniqueness should be of importance of every teacher.
What strategies would you use to teach students about the concept of branding?

One activity that will give students ideas for creating their own brand would be to have the students create collages to include words that they believe describe them. I would ask the art teacher to work with me on this activity. Other sources would be both magazines and videos showing different logos and branding. Once they have an understanding of branding I would place them into various groups so that they could collaborate with each other to come up with a pseudo company brand. Here they can see that corporations’ subsidiaries carry their own logo but all fall under the main corporation logos that are used in the business world. Many students will be drawn to the logos of companies that are involved in their area of interest. By having them come up with a main brand, they can see that in business a company may be associated with different interests.

How can branding be used in an educational environment?

Branding is used from the start of child’s education, the school mascot is the first experience in branding. As they go through their educational career they associate with school branding and the development of their own branding by the type of students they hang out with. We just need to make them understand that even they may not create their own brand they become associated with a certain brand of student the hangout with. Creating your own logo is one of the projects used to help the students communicate who they are to the rest of the class. It helps the students bond with others, and highlight similarities and differences.

Logo Reflection

Employing principals of C.R.A,P. was the last phase of putting my logo together. It was somewhat difficult to come up with a logo that I thought represented me well within the parameters of my final design. When I finally began to draft the design I chose to run with popular branding that I have seen on television, billboards, and magazines. More specifically, I chose lettering branding that we associate with companies like the golden M for McDonalds, W for Whataburger, and DQ for Dairy Queen, just to name a few. The first and lingering idea that came to mind was my passion for coaching. Designing the logo became easy. I kept it simple but yet touched on what describes me. Contrast phase was used to focus on the E in the design. Repetition was used by keeping the background color and the lettering used in the logo. Alignment was introduced by keeping the lettering centered under the E, while the E remained as the focal point of the logo.

Logo

C.R.A.P. and “Qur’an” by Sultans Baybar’s

C.R.A.P. and “Qur’an” by Sultans Baybar’s Applying the principals of C.R.A.P. in this writing and presentation of the text, art work and changing of chapter to chapter conveys much. The red cover of the book catches the eye on a bookshelf. The spacing of text from one verse to another is well spaced out. Along with the change of color used from a verse that carries the reader while emphasizing importance is nice. The artwork that is used to go from one chapter to the other is uniform and unique. The alignment of the text and centering of the artwork was also uniform throughout the book. This an easy read to follow.

Action Research Plan Update

My action research plan is slowly coming together. I have not been able to start on as many of the domains as I thought I would have by this point. One of the reasons for the slow start is I coach year round so this takes a good chunk of my free time. I am planning to spend intercessions and summer breaks on accomplishing these tasks. Having been able to send out surveys and meet with teachers on what improvement they would like to see at the campus level is where I will begin. A large part of this effort is to demonstrate to teachers that dialogue is coming first and foremost from the school’s administrative team, and not by teacher word of mouth. In order to give the teachers a voice I am currently sitting on two committees; School Improvement Team (SIT) and Educator's Professional Advisory Committee (EPAC). Both committees meet once a month while the EPAC is a district wide committee that allows campuses to send a representative that will bring concerns and questions to other EPAC members at the district service center. SIT committee is the campus level meeting group where teachers from each grade level bring their concerns to discuss at the campus then communicate concerns to the EPAC member. Both these committees meet once a month each for about one hour to two. Another part of internship that I have been able to complete is general administrative duties. These have included sitting in on discipline of students, parent teacher conferences and monitoring after hours events such as sporting events and meets. There are still quite a bit of areas left to cover. I believe that the second part of the school year will offer me opportunities to step into the role of an administrator exploring and practicing duties or tasks that I have not been able to perform yet.

Week Five EDLD5363

Week Post Tutorial Video

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Week one Video

Week one video script

I was born in El Paso but grew up both in El Paso and San Jose, California. I never liked the idea of going back and forth jumping from one family to another one. I have been a teacher for the past nineteen years with Socorro ISD and my current position is a PE/Health teacher. When I decided to get married I told myself that I would do everything to keep my family all living in one home. I have been blessed with a beautiful wife, Veronica along with five children. I have three daughters, Vianca, Victoria and Autumn. I also have two sons named Ernesto Jr. and Antonio. Personal professional growth and family are the two reasons I finished my bachelors and now decided to go for my masters. For me there is nothing better than spending time with my family doing activities or simply staying home with the family. With a masters degree I hope to land an assistant principal position.

Week three assignment EDLD 5362

Dawn here is my link to my Video
and the enbed code
http://www.metta.io/stories/12582

EDLD 5362 Week 1 Discussion Post

Quote from reading 3: The Digital Disconnect. The Widening Gap Between Internet-Savvy Students and Their Schools (2002)

“Even inside the most well connected schools, there is wide variation in teacher policies about Internet use by students in and for class.”

Even though this article was written more than ten years ago and most classrooms today have internet access, teachers are still not on the same page on what acceptable use policies are and how to follow up on them. A large part of this approach has to do with what is ethically acceptable to the instructor as well as what teachers know about copyright, fair use, and privacy. All of these issues can clearly affect the individual teacher policies about internet usage which ultimately supports why there is a wide variation on how internet exposure and usage is addressed by students in teacher’s classes. Also, now that a good number of students come to school with smart phones this adds a new twist for teachers to deal with. We as teachers are still trying to control what types of devices are being used such as computers, tablets, and smart phones that have access to the internet. When students are asked to research, we want them to use in many cases outdated computers that can be monitored by the teacher. This purposely and unfortunately creates a frustrating environment for both the students and teachers. A simple solution would be to just let them use their smart phones since it would make it easier for the students. On the other hand it may complicate things for the teacher who loses a certain degree of control over the technology that is being used in the classroom.

Levin, D., Arafeh, S., & American Institutes for Research, W. C. (2002). The digital disconnect: The widening gap between internet- savvy students and their schools.

Week 5 Web Reflection

I viewed the recorded session of this weeks’ final web conference for the course.  It was informative. Dr. Abernathy outlined what we needed to do for the week five final assignment.  Dr. Abernathy explained what each part of the assignment required and reminded us that we must submit all five weeks worth of assignments to TK20.  Even though the web chat was helpful, because they were scheduled on Saturday and Sunday it made it very hard for me to attend any live chats. I work Saturdays from 8am until about 2pm and my Sunday’s are spent doing personal errands and chores needed to get ready for the upcoming week. Even though week days are also busy, it is easier to set time aside to attend the chats. I hope in the next set of Web chats they are on a weekday and not a weekend. I do realize how important and helpful the web chats are to the course and program. 

Course Reflection

Looking back on the assignments the work called for both individual and groups efforts in EDLD 5364 Teaching with Technology. This class has given me a better understanding of the different types of learners that walk through the door of my classroom every day.  Planning as a team at first was a challenge, being that we are scattered throughout the state, we decided to set up a Google chat and Skype session once a week to discuss the team solutions for the scenario. This was a new experience for me, but it turned out to be a very effective means of communicating with each other. This process mirrored in many ways on how the corporate world communicates. In addition, this kind of cooperative group learning enhanced my knowledge subject matter as well as the implementation of some new technologies. I was able to “make sense of, or construct new meaning for, new knowledge by interacting with others” (Pitler, 2007. p. 139).

Creating my own individual UDL lesson and a separate group plan helped me add a new tool to my teacher toolbox. Even though UDL was new to me, I drew upon my prior knowledge of constructing a lesson then combining it with old lesson plans methods to better aide all student’s needs which encompass the diverse learners in the class. The CAST website was a great source to accomplish this task. I used the CAST UDL lesson builder to “create and adapt lessons that increase access and participation in the general education curriculum for all students” (CAST). When I created my UDL lesson I took into consideration my teams’ scenario solution.  Our brainstorming sessions, ideas, roles and responsibilities helped me complete my role in the UDL lesson and allowed me to complement my work with the unit of study that we created. While creating my part of the lesson for this course I used technology to solve problems that I encountered in the course assignments, just as I will have my own students do.  

I am a visual learner; the eBook assignment was straightforward but challenging and engaging. I was “using the technology to learn how to use the technology” (Solomon & Schrum, 2007, p. 111).  As simple as creating an eBook seems, it can become an engaging lesson for my students as well as a new skill for them to learn. It is a task that can be completed by both mainstream and diverse learners. The eBooks are definitely a technology feature that I can apply to my seventh grade health classroom in the future. 

The cooperative learning group that we were asked to create for and be a part of gave me a different outlook and trust in team members that I did not have before. The interaction that occurred with the team members allowed me to share my classroom experiences with the group and apply how those experiences might help solve the scenario. The same was true with the other members of the team. We all teach different subjects and grade levels. Some group members had more experience working with special needs students than I did. My cooperative learning experience has impacted my future learning by teaching me the need to listen, respect, and achieve with others in order to gain the effectiveness that group collaborations can bring to a project.

My growth both as a learner and educator through these assignments will allow me to introduce new strategies to both my colleagues and students. My performances on the group project and individual project can be attributed to the effectiveness of the cooperative learning group. As a lifelong learner, it is important to find more technology applications that are age and ability appropriate for the learners no matter their abilities. Integrating technology into curriculum is needed in order to keep and maintain student’s engagement in learning in order to bring about greater student achievement.


Meyer, A. (2009, August 24). Cast udl lesson builder. Retrieved from http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/

Pitler, H. H. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. P. 139. 

Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2007). Web 2.0 new tools, new schools. International Society for Technology in the Classroom. p. 168.

Lesson Learnded Week 5

Student achievement takes commitment from both the teacher and student. Yes, most of effort must come from the student, but we as teachers also need to give the students the tools to achieve success. Sometimes we as teachers do not fully prepare which in turn does not give the student base to build on the lesson and then we wonder why we get the poor quality work is turned in. This week’s readings gave several suggestions in regards on how teachers can prepare so that we can help students become more conscious of their efforts and monitor these efforts for the purpose of becoming more involved and responsible for their learning goals. Introducing students’ tools, such as Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Moviemaker to name a few that can assist them in creating projects that incorporate different types of technology that visibly demonstrate the relationship between students’ efforts and their achievement levels. As facilitators we are now able to find online resources that help in the creation of rubrics based specifically on student effort. The rubrics on effort could include categories like participation, attention, note taking, homework, and studying. Such rubrics could be a useful tool in helping students understand exactly what is expected of them and how they will be graded. If students understand the expectations of the project the rubrics themselves become a good tool for students becoming aware of their level participation, in a very concrete, objective manner. These suggestions and strategies could be very helpful in creating student awareness and accountability.

Assessing students’ retention in given lessons is something that teachers use to measure understanding the material students were introduced to, Web 2.0 gave examples of several different types’ technology tools that assess and that increase students' awareness of individual effort and achievement. Among the Web 2.0 tools listed, blogs, wikis, podcasts, video conferences, social bookmarks, and electronic portfolios were discussed in depth. In addition to these tools, the readings provided insight on the importance of formative assessments used to monitor student progress. Several examples of formative assessment were included in the videos, as well. One of this week’s videos touched on how gaming can be used as an effective technique when assessing students' abilities. The immediate feedback from this forum of assessment seems to be very beneficial to students, rather than the traditional delayed response time from the teacher. It is clear that the direction of education must change as far as tools used for instruction and assessment methods.