Journal #4 - Project Plan

Write and post to your blog a plan for your final project. Your plan should include your idea for the website, an image of the site map and wireframe, and description that covers the following points.

• Site title - Mrs. Yanko's Science Page
• Developer - Roxana Yanko
• Rational or focus - The purpose of this website is to keep parents and students informed of current assignments, projects, and daily binder pages.  Although students have access to assignments on the school's school loop website, this site will present additional class materials in a concise and user-friendly manner.
• Main features outline - This site will include the daily warmups and reflections for absent students, as well as links to reference materials needed to complete the class binder.
• Content 
• Weekly Lifelines
• Science Schedules
• Academic Toolkit
• Table of Contents
• Pages
• Unit Packets
• Unit 1
• Unit 2
• Unit 3
• Unit 4
• Unit 5
• Assignments
• Classwork/Homework
• Upcoming
• Prior
• Activities/Labs
• Upcoming
• Prior
• Tests/Quizzes
• Upcoming
• Prior
• Extra credit
• Upcoming
• Prior
• Target audience - The audience for this site is my students and their parents.
• Design considerations. The design goals for this site is to be simple to navigate for parents and students alike.  The reference materials linked on the site should directly reflect the class daily routine and class binder so that it is convenient for students and parents to use.
• Limiting factors - The biggest limiting factor would be any redundancy this site might have with the school website.  I would want this site to be useful in a separate way and not be neglected because of that.

Journal #3 - The Case for Social Media in Schools

Kessler, S. (2010, September 29). The Case For Social Media in Schools, http://mashable.com/2010/09/29/social-media-in-school/

In this article, a 7^th grade teacher argues that social media can be useful in schools, based upon evidence that her school experience reduced absenteeism, an increase in grades, and a visible increase in student investment in online assignments.  Based on her research, she states social media in schools provides educational benefits that far outweigh the risks.  She has several arguments for her stance on using social media in schools; 1, it should be taught instead of fought; 2, it engages students more than traditional assignments do; 3, there is a surge of safe and school friendly programs now available for use in classrooms; 4, it provides a productive activity for students to do online instead of what they will do alternatively; and 5, it promotes collaboration similar to that they will be expected to participate in as adults in the business world; and 6, cell phones can be used to promote attendance and updates via texting.

I am a believer that social media, when used effectively, can be extremely beneficial in getting students to open up about their ideas, work collaboratively, and access online resources.  Students are usually very excited to use computers for classwork, and sites such as Edmodo and Edublog being used effectively in classrooms across the country.  This is a platform that most today's students are accustomed to communicating in and expressing themselves with.  I agree that it can be a dangerous tool, which is why it is important for teachers to be aware of the pitfalls and to have a structure in place to promote online responsibility and to follow a code of conduct for behavior online.  With the abundance of classroom-friendly programs now available, it is easy to manage student work and to cultivate a responsible online presence within classrooms.  I think that there needs to be a lot more education for teachers on how to use social media as a resource, because I agree that the benefits can far outweigh the risks when used properly.  I myself have started to use social media in the classroom, and while I have managed to enforce a code of conduct for behavior and expectations among my students, I think I could use a few lessons on how to use it to its full potential.

Q1:  How can I use social media to enhance the learning in my classroom?

Students can use social media through blogging and sharing their knowledge with other students on certain topics.  Shy students may be more apt to participate in discussions, and to contribute to polls to enhance student discourse.

Q2:  What tools are available for teachers to use social media safely in their classrooms?

Kidblogs, edmodo, edublogs, schoolology, remind101, and a variety of other free online services are just a few of the the closed-system, classroom friendly social media sites that are currently available for teachers to use in the virtual classroom.  Hopefully there will be more in the future as teachers begin to see the benefits of social media use in education.

Journal # 1: Chapters 1-3 Summary

Journal #1: Chapters 1-3 Summary.  Robbins.  (2012, August).  Learning Web Design, 4^th Edition.

Summary:

The first chapter of Robbins’ book summarizes the internet, and the language used to create the web pages of the world wide web.  He introduces HTML and shows how webpages are structured with HTML as a foundation.  It then goes on to introduce CSS as the language that writes how websites are styled with colors, backgrounds, font size, and formatting.  Lastly, Robbins goes on to explain how Javascript is used to add interactivity and behaviors to webpages.  The author describes these languages as layers of a cake that is used to create the structure, presentation, and behavior of web design.  In the second chapter, Robbins distinguishes the internet from the world wide web.  He explains that the internet is a network of computers, whereas the web is a way for information to be shared over different internets using HTML. This chapter also explains important concepts such as servers with IP addresses and how URLs work and how it uses http to direct to web addresses.  The third chapter of this book explains concepts on how web design is varied to accommodate a variety of platforms such as browsers, and mobile operating systems on the various web devices now used to access the web.

In addition to the abundance of information in these chapters, Robbins also details the history of how the internet and web design has been developed over the decades since its inception, and helps the reader understand how it is structured today.

Q1:  What do I need to know in order to design a website?

I need to understand the various layers of web design, not only the languages used to create the web sites, but also the knowledge to consider the way the site will function in various aspects.  There is the Interaction Design, User Interface, and User Experience to consider when creating a website with the various languages and tools involved in web design.

Q2:  What are your interests involving web design?

My knowledge of web design right now is very limited.  I have had some experience with html from decades past, and have had recent exposure to working with CSS.  I like the idea of creating a place where my students can access important information for my courses in an organized, visually appealing, and user friendly layout.  I’m looking forward to becoming proficient at creating a web site that would be beneficial to me and my students that won’t be redundant to my school’s current teacher websites. 

Journal #2: Affinity groups and Digg

Affinity Groups:

I took the time to research several Affinity groups provided by the course materials.  I found that many of them were out of date, and some of them were not really what I was looking for.  Classroom 2.0 did not provide me with anything worthwhile, so I continue to wonder if I'm using it correctly, or if it is simply outdated.  Most of the posts in the forums had fewer than 3 responses.  I then decided to research my own online presence and determine if I'm already a part of an applicable Affinity group for this assignment.  I have an Edmodo account that I use to communicate with my students, and over the summer, I actively use it to collaborate with other science Educators.  This summer, I also joined several groups on Edmodo during their conference Edmodocon, and am still active in some of the groups that sprouted up around that time.  Here is a link to one of the communities I'm a part of: https://www.edmodo.com/home#/community/science.  I find this to be a useful platform for teachers to share and ask for resources.  It's also very easy to link files and other documents through Edmodo groups, so not only is it useful, it's convenient and has many active members.

Digg RSS stream:

I was ready to not like Digg because I already use another blog reader, "Bloglovin".  However, as I started to use the Digg reader, I really appreciated the format the blogs generated.  The presentation is like an email feed where unread posts are bold, and read posts are unbolded.  It doesn't seem to add unnecessary colors or styles, so I can easily see the content, and scan blogs easily to find any relevant information.  I'm going to continue to use Digg to keep up with blogs of other science teachers, and other middle school sites and news feeds.

Question 1:  How can I meet with and collaborate with other educators online?

There are many online communities where educators actively share and ask for resources and ideas.  Edmodo, Facebook, and classroom 2.0 have many subject specific groups or forums that can provide valuable and timely collaboration between educators.  Explore the many online options to find one that works for you.

Question 2: How can I keep up with the multitude of blogs and news feeds about my interests and subject area?

RSS streams, such as Digg Reader can provide an organized and stress-free way of keeping up with, viewing, and archiving favorite sites and posts.  It organizes content much like email threads and allows you to "like", flag, and forward posts to twitter or Facebook.

About Me

About Roxy Yanko

Hello everyone!  My name is Roxy, and I teach 8th grade science in Monrovia.  I used to be a professional student, and in the end I finally received my degree in Natural Science - Geology from CalState LA.  I have been teaching for several years, and am ready to go back to school to work on my masters.  I'm very excited to be here and to start the EMM program at Cal Poly.

I got married in 2011, and finally, through the miracle of IVF, we are expecting our first child in November!  It's an exciting time in my life right now with reaching my teaching stride and potentially screwing the whole thing up by becoming a parent!  My hobbies have obviously taken the back burner in recent years, since becoming consumed with strengthening my craft of teaching 13 year olds chemistry and physics.  However, I used to enjoy photography, snowboarding, hiking, and relaxing on the lake or at the pub with friends.  (In fact, it was this "relaxing" at the pub that led me to meet my wonderful and supportive husband!)  I live in Monrovia with my husband and two cats.  Click here for a video of our cat, Creepy, catching a bug.

I consider myself pretty computer savvy, but that is mostly from the user end.  I have dabbled in graphic design for personal use with Pixelmator, and back in the 90's I learned basic HTML.  My students learned CSS over the summer and I learned a bit by watching them!  

I decided to pursue a Masters in Educational Multimedia because I had enough philosophy and theory coursework while earning my credential and then completing BTSA.  The way I feel right now, you could not pay me to take another "education" course.  I am much more of a 'hands on learning' type, and I feel that I can learn applicable skills with this program.  This degree may potentially open up a few more doors for me in my current place of work - who knows?

Here is a picture of me in my favorite environment - the snow!  Although I was born and raised in Southern California, I believe I was made for a different kind of place.  I hope that we have a better snow year ahead of us than recent years, and I am anxiously awaiting another "El Niño" year.

I look forward to meeting the rest of you, my peers in the EMM program.  I hope that we all have a great time learning from the coursework and from each other.  Here's to a great start everyone!