Monday, January 19, 2015

Assignment for Thursday, January 22, 2015



This 2-part assignment is due at 9 AM on Thursday:

Newsletter
·         One of your roles in your future careers will be to educate families of the students you work with, as well as the students themselves. Your assignment is to use the information I provided to you about email etiquette to create a newsletter for families. Save your finished document on your computer, then email it to me before class on Thursday, at 9 AM.

Make sure your newsletter contains sufficient information about email etiquette, your contact information if the reader would like more information, an aesthetically-pleasing design, no spelling errors, a tone that is appropriate for families - all on one page. Let me know if you have questions.

Create a Calendar
  • Your calendar can be created in some of the versions of Microsoft Word, by downloading a template, or you can use Microsoft Publisher if you prefer
  • The calendar should be for one month - for the month of March.
  • Add UTTC's spring break, St. Patrick's Day, daylight savings time, and the first day of spring. Make sure the calendar has text and graphics for these dates.
  • The calendar should have graphics on the header that are appropriate for that month.
Remember to save your work and email your completed assignment to your instructor on or before the due date for this assignment.

Web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0


ELMO - the Document Camera


Email Etiquette



7 email etiquette rules every professional should know
By Vivian Giang, Business Insider
It’s easy to see why email is the preferred form of communication in today's workplace.
Smartphones allow us to send and receive messages from anywhere. They're convenient, and you aren't afraid that you might be interrupting someone by texting or calling them on the phone.
But it's this convenience that leads people to making embarrassing mistakes that may be detrimental in a professional interaction. For example, you could easily miss a spelling error while typing out an email on your phone or come off as too casual or unprofessional in tone or content.

1. Include a clear, direct subject line.
Examples of a good subject line include: "Meeting date changed," "Quick question about your presentation," or "Suggestions for the proposal."

2. Use a professional email address.
If you work for a company, you should use your company email address. But if you use a personal email account -- whether you are self-employed or just like using it occasionally for work-related correspondences -- you should be careful when choosing that address.

3. Think twice before hitting "reply all."
No one wants to read emails from 20 people when it has nothing to do with them. They could just ignore the emails, but many people get notifications of new messages on their smartphones or distracting pop-up messages on their computer screens. Refrain from hitting "reply all" unless you really think everyone on the list needs to receive the email.

4. Use exclamation points sparingly.
If you choose to use an exclamation point, use only one to convey excitement. People sometimes get carried away and put a number of exclamation points at the end of their sentences. Exclamation points should be used sparingly in writing.

5. Be cautious with humor.
Humor can easily get lost in translation without the right tone or facial expressions. In a professional exchange, it's better to leave humor out of emails unless you know the recipient well. Also, something that you think is funny might not be funny to someone else.

6. Know that people from different cultures speak and write differently.
Miscommunication can easily occur due to cultural differences, especially in the writing form when we can't see each others body language. Tailor your message depending on the receiver's cultural background or how well you know him.
A good rule to keep in mind is that high-context cultures (Japanese, Arab or Chinese) want to get to know you before doing business with you. Therefore, it may be common for business associates from these countries to be more personal in their writings. On the other hand, people from low-context cultures (German, American or Scandinavian) prefer to get to the point quickly.

7. Reply to your emails -- even if the email wasn't intended for you.
It's difficult to reply to every email message ever sent to you, but you should try to. This includes when the email was accidentally sent to you, especially if the sender is expecting a reply. A reply isn't necessary, but serves as good email etiquette, especially if this person works in the same company or industry as you.
Here's an example reply: "I know you're very busy, but I don't think you meant to send this email to me. And I wanted to let you know so you can send it to the correct person."
Aside from these email tips, always make sure to proof your messages so that there aren't any jarring mistakes that make you seem unprofessional. Always add the email address last so that the email doesn't accidentally send before you're ready.

This article originally appeared on Business Insider.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Let's Get Started!

Today in class, we're going to do an orientation of sorts to the course:

  • This class period will be spent walking through Chapter 1. You haven't read it yet but I will pull out some of the many highlights for you.
  • We're going to review the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards for students and educators. These can be found at http://www.iste.org/standards.
  • We're also going to play with Elmo, the document camera. You'll each get to read a children's book to the group (since there are only three of you) using this handy tool. 
  • We will each set up a Pinterest account. Pinterest is a great resource of ideas for teachers. You can simply create a "board" and then search for ideas specific to the grade or curricular area you are teaching. Tons of suggestions, or "pins", will appear and you'll be able to pick and choose those you want by "pinning" them to your board. I'll show you how to do this.
Assignment for Tuesday, Jan. 20th:
Your technology blog is going to serve as what the text refers to as your "teacher toolbox". Your assignment for this week is to sign up for these two tools: Share My Lesson and Class Dojo. Then, on your tech blog, add the link for these two tech tools and for Pinterest. Then, write a short narrative describing the tools and what they could be used for in the classroom. You will have three separate posts, one for each one of these tools, that include the link and a description.



Thursday, May 1, 2014

Our Last Day of Class!

Today, in class, we're going to re-cap your experience with the Active Board on Tuesday. What did you learn about this? What did you learn about yourself, as a problem-solver?

Then we're going to make a certificate. This is the last thing we have to do for this course AND the last artifact that needs to be uploaded to your portfolio for EDU 288.

The link for the certificate program is as follows:

Certificate Street

You're going to make a certificate per my specific instructions that I will give you. Then you're going to save it, as a pdf. Then, you're going to upload it to your portfolio under one of the standards. I'm hoping you will be able to do the portfolio upload on your own. But I will help you if you need it.

Then, finally, we're going to do the final course evaluation for this class.

And, then, bon voyage!

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Our Last Tuesday Meeting for the Semester!

As you know, you were assigned to access Promethean Planet, find a game under the Resources link, and download it to your laptop that you installed the Active Inspire on. In class today, you are each going to take turns hooking your laptop up to the Active Board and accessing the game you created from the template you downloaded. 

Everybody will stay until everybody is done (you don't get to leave as soon as you're finished). The idea is for you to see the resources your peers found, as well as your own.

You are also supposed to bring your completed calendar to class with beautifully written numbers and the word "May" at the top (remember - clear, kinda fat, letters/numbers that can be viewed across the room).

And, finally, we will complete the course evaluation for this course. The link is on your my.uttc and the course is EDU 288. My name, as insructor, is....I'm kidding....

See you later today!