This past week I learned that Microsoft Excel is a wonderful tool that simplifies data. Excel has the ability to generate colorful charts and graphs in seconds. Excel can enhance any learning environment.

Infographics are extremely powerful tools that can and should be used as a visual aid in lesson plans. Infographics should be easy to understand and include images, graphs, tables, etc. They should create a special connection with your students in the classroom and be aimed at educating them.

Week 2 January 26 2020

Having read and studied both the 2008 ISTE Standards For Teachers and the 2017 ISTE Standards For Educators, I have come to the conclusion that both provide a solid framework that supports good teaching and learning. The 2008 ISTE Standards focus on teaching students with technology. The 2017 ISTE Standards focus on students using technology to learn. I also noticed that the 2017 ISTE Standards contained many of the same Standards found in the 2008 but added a focus towards student driven learning. For example 4. Collaborator (b.) “Collaborate and co-learn with students to discover and use new digital resources and diagnose and troubleshoot technology issues”. I also like how the 2017 ISTE Standards For Educators recognizes and accommodates learner variability. For example 5. Designer (a.) “Use technology to create, adapt, and personalize learning experiences that foster independent learning and accommodate learner differences and needs”. If it is one thing that I learned four years ago when I started teaching Welding, “No Two Students Learn The Same”. I personally like the layout of the 2017 ISTE Standards For Educators and to be quite honest when it comes to certain computer activities I have learned in past years to collaborate and co-learn with my students so together we are all learning about the digital age we live in today.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.