Digital Writing Reflection

• What did you learn about yourself as a writer?

One thing that I think I learned, or more realized, about myself as a writer is simply the fact that I do not write, for fun that is, enough. I don't really take the time to creatively write, and I have never really been one to keep a journal or anything like that. However, having a blog for this class changed that for me and gave me a reason to write more, outside of just assignments for school (well kinda, I guess that's kinda what this was too lol). 

• What did you learn about digital writing or being a member of a digital writing community?

I loved being able to so easily access so many peoples blogs! It was great to be able to read so many peoples posts as well as communicate via comments. Without a doubt digital writing seems to have widened the audience of writing. One of my favorite things about digital writing was the vast variety of types of writing in which it allows! For example, my blog posts contained everything from your typical writing form, to videos, pictures (wordless), and infographics! 

• What lessons can you take to your classroom or share with future teachers about integrating blogging into instruction?

I would definitely consider incorporating a blog into a classroom of my own! I love how many doors it seemed to have open. I also loved that it seemed to be a more relaxed environment, that students may not be a threatened in, as well as it provided students a little more flexibility/option to what they write. And,  as I mentioned before the easy ability of commenting is a great feature, for both students and for teachers!   

• Challenges/Successes?

My biggest challenge was not always knowing what to post or what to post about...however, the limitless amount of options, which I mentioned above, made it easier! Since I have never been much of a nonacademic writer I loved having the option to incorporate pictures and videos! All-in-all I am so glad that I tried out blogging!!

The Digital Writing Workshop - Book Review

Following is a list of  ten quotes that I had highlighted and that stuck with me while reading The Digital Writing Workshop, by Troy Hicks. Each quote either regards to the age of new literacies as a whole, or ways that digital literacies can be beneficial to both teachers and their students, and I'd like to share them with you.

1- "We must build upon our existing knowledge about the writing workshop, as it can help us reach this goal of using technology in pedagogically sound and sustainable ways (11)."

2-  "... these demands require us to think about the ways in which we engage students in digital writing and about how sharing writing online can become a key component of our workshop approach (15). "

3- "...new literacies encompass both the technical stuff of new literacies- knowing particular gadgets, web services, and other technology-based tools- as well as the ethos stuff, or the general mind-set toward a more open and collaborative process of literacy learning (16)."

4- "...inquiry and choice drive the workshop approach. With RSS and social bookmarking as ways to share and gather information, students' individual choices are highly malleable...(34)."

5- "While offering response online is different from face-to-face interactions that many of us find the best part of teaching writing, these types of responses allow us more time to offer substantive feedback. ...students appreciate the way in which we build relationships with them through digital writing connections (35)."

6- "Digital response allows you time to pause and reflect on each student's needs (37).

7- "Multimedia authoring requires students to combine texts, images, audio, and video in ways that rely on our traditional understandings of what it means to create good writing...(52). "

8- "...when students are responsible for posting their own writing and commenting on the writing of others, they are likely to feel more engaged in the writing process. By reading what others have written, they gather both ideas for their own writing as well as different elements of author's craft that can help make their writing better. The process f commenting on others' work can help writers identify what works, and what does not work, when creating their own pieces (83).

9- "Teachers now have the opportunity to watch and guide students writing...Teachers can track drafts of student's work, along with commentary on that work from other students...(103).

10-  "By building on the writing workshops principles of inquiry of choice, conferring and response, examining the author's craft, publishing beyond the classroom, and broadening our visions of assessment, digital writing tools can sometimes supplement, sometime enhance, and sometimes completely change the ways in which we work with writers (125). 

The main take away that I have gotten from this book is the definition of literacy is evolving, and there are so many tools to help teachers incorporate and teach this new literacy in the classroom! I love that this book in many cases gives step but step procedures for how to involve some of these ideas into your classroom. This book is full of ideas, and would be extremely helpful and beneficial to any teacher! (10/10 would recommend reading.)

Wordless Wednesday

"Pictures Are Worth A Thousand Words"

Lake Jessup Park

Tech Creation ~ Infographics

For this post I took one of the "technologies" that I learned about while completing my last, Tech Exploration post. I played around with creating an Infographic, using Piktochart (https://magic.piktochart.com). 

Once I got the hang of what I was doing and learned how to do it, after messing around for a while, I grew to really love this method of sharing information! For this infographic I started by using a template that the website provided, however you can make your own and the possibilities of what you can do are endless! 

 I think this would be a great resource not only as a teacher, but for many other reasons as well. It is a fun and attractive/eye catching way to get information distributed! This is definitely a resource that I will remember for future uses!

- Heidi 

Tech Post

I'll start by being honest and saying the majority of the words in the wordle provided, were basically another language to me! I have no idea what they mean or what they are... Maybe that means I am a little out of touch with the current technologies used in teaching? (if that's what they even are!) My "tech life" generally consists of a few social media sites to keep up to date with friends and family as well as the basic Microsoft Office programs and the internet to complete school work! (I honestly have no idea how people survived college without the internet). I would assume that my use of technology is a little different that that of my former teachers. Mainly due to the fact that we are just in different places in our lives and all of the social media site seem to be more popular with my generation than past generations. 

I really like the idea of VoiceThread. I thought it was interesting how it was mentioned that spoken language has been around for 95,000 years more than written language (twenty times longer!!!), and is the primary mode of communication for humans, well it was anyway until the internet came along. I think it is great that VoiceThread allows people (teachers in particular) to bring that spoken aspect back even in a virtual setting, whether the teacher use it for online lessons or homework! As the video mentioned, it can make these tasks more personal, let alone more human! Spoken conversation also allows for the students to differentiate and pick up on things that are more difficult to notice when reading written conversation, for example what the teacher deems to be most important due to their expressions, tone of voice or emphasis or a topic. 

In today's society many things are consisting of more and more technology being involved, this includes modes and methods of education! For example, when I was in elementary school the use of computers was limited when outside of "computer class" and instead we used pen and paper for our assignments. However, times are changing and now our elementary schoolers are using computers for assignments such as their high stakes testing writing prompts (aka the use of technology is VERY important). I really enjoyed exploring some the sites that were shared with us regarding digital writing. One thing that I really got from looking at a of them was how many forms of writing technology has provided us with! I have used Wordles before, and love the idea of them. They are a fun alternative to just a list of words, and I love of it adds emphasis to specific words. I also enjoyed learning a little more about prezi, I have seen presentations in which they were used, but I have never created one myself! I'd love to do so in the future however. And, of course, memes. Memes are currently pretty popular, but I love that they prove a fun, and often funny, way to share a message. 

The first thing I noticed upon clicking on the link for the top 200 tools for learning was that I am incredibly familiar with at least the top 15 tools listed as well as many others further down the list! (so maybe I am not as out of touch with the technologies of teaching as I had previously though. AND maybe my use of technology isn't as different as my past teachers either!) I love how this list consist of so many tools that I use, even though I am not a teacher! This means that students are using technologies in the classroom, that they also use at home or in their personal time, but perhaps in a different way! (That is one thing that I love about technology, the diversability) 

I enjoyed seeing the idea of Bloom's Taxonomy used with the different "levels" of technological tools used in teaching. With all of the possible tools available to teachers, it is important that they remember the concept of "scaffolding". It is extremely important that the students do not skip to using sources that are under the "evaluating" level when they have yet to use those in the "understanding" level, since they build off of eachother. 

I have learned of so many fun and interesting technological tools that are available to teachers, and just in general, and honestly would love to play around and learn to use a lot of them!  As I mentioned further up in this post, I'd love to attempt to step out of my comfort zone of using powerpoint and use prezi when I have my next presentation! 

Positivity

Do you ever feel like everything tends to fall on your all at once? Whether it be school, work or other responsibilities, maybe even all of them combined! Well, I definitely do, and I also often find myself looking at the worst in the situation that I have been put in. 

Someone recently reminded me that one's experience and attitude towards a situation is completely determined based upon their mindset going into it. In other words, if they go in thinking something is going to such, well odds are its going to suck! She reminded me how important it is to think of the good to come out of everything rather than to focus on the bad.

Once I actually took a minute to think about what she was saying I realized how true this really is for all situations. Taking this I decided to look at some more benefits that come with just simply having a positive attitude.

• Increased life span
• Lower rates of depression
• Lower levels of distress
• Greater resistance to the common cold
• Better psychological and physical well-being
• Reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease
• Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress

(mayoclinic.org)

With those outcomes I don't see what anyone could loose from trying to become more positive. However, I know it is easier said than done, and the first question I asked myself was "Where do I start?" So, I found a few simple ways to help us to achieve this optimistic mind set.

• Identify areas to change
• Check yourself
• Be open to humor 
• Follow a healthy lifestyle 
• Surround yourself with positive people 

Or even just something as easy as changing the way you talk/think!

Negative self-talk	Positive thinking
I've never done it before.	It's an opportunity to learn something new.
It's too complicated.	I'll tackle it from a different angle.
I don't have the resources.	Necessity is the mother of invention.
I'm too lazy to get this done.	I wasn't able to fit it into my schedule, but I can re-examine some priorities.
There's no way it will work.	I can try to make it work.
It's too radical a change.	Let's take a chance.
No one bothers to communicate with me.	I'll see if I can open the channels of communication.
I'm not going to get any better at this.	I'll give it another try.

(mayoclinic.org)

Hearing this one girls point of view, as inspired me to try and work on looking on situations, even the ones I dread the most, in a more positive light, and I challenge you to do the same! 

-Heidi

I Love My Life & The People In It

I briefly mentioned in my last blog post, "A Little About Me", that my family and my friends are a HUGE play a huge role in my life and mean the world to me. I figured, what better way to share this with you than to show you! So, I put together a short little video so that y'all can get a little glimpse into that part of my life. 

-Heidi

A Little About Me

Hi!

A you have probably been able to piece together, due to the name of my blog (and my lack of creativity), my name is Heidi! I am a Junior at the University of Central Florida, majoring in Health Science Pre-Clinical, and am planning on later attending graduate school in order to get a PhD in Physical Therapy. I am also currently working towards a minor in Education. Unlike what the majority of people think of when they hear physical therapy, I do not want to work with athletes, but instead it is my goal and passion to work with special needs/handicapped children (hence the minor in education).

A HUGE (really the only) reason I even considered going into PT, is my brother. My brother, Joe, is younger than me but still happens to be my role model, the inspiration for a lot that I do, and my best friend. Joe was born with an extremely rare disorder, called Cockayne Syndrome. Cockayne syndrome affects only ONE out of every ONE MILLION people, and results in both physical and mental disabilities. With all of that aside, he is the happiest kid you'll ever meet and has taught me to live life to the fullest and to not let anything stand in your way. (Wow... I'm getting kinda sappy...) Anyway, observing him work with a PT multiple times a week and seeing not only all of the benefits he receives from it, but how much she was getting out of it as well, sold me on 7+ years of school (yay).

A little more about me... I am in a sorority, Delta Delta Delta, here at UCF. In the time that I have, that is not eaten away by school and studying, you'll probably find me at the beach or in the company of friends and family. And I am warning you, this is my first blog of any kind, so I have no idea what I am doing and am a little out of my comfort zone but, I am excited to try something new (so bare with me)!

-Heidi