C4T #2 and #3 Summary

During the latest of my C4T assignments, I have had the pleasure of following the blog of Ms. Dianne Krause, a Technology Staff Development Specialist, who posts some great tools for educators and students on her blogs. Dianne first introduced me to infographics, which are visual representations of getting as much information into a picture as possible, to relay that information to others in larger groups so that they are informed. When introduced to infographics, I thought about its use from my own experiences, and the idea of the color of Jesus’s skin came to mind: Someone in Europe expressed his color as “black” in drawings deep beneath the city in catacombs, while others portrayed him in their image. Such infographics once told us something that new one’s do not, so it suggests that we look further than the obvious in society, and wonder about other possibilities. However, this doesn’t tie in too well with my next blog of Dianne’s.

My second comment of Dianne’s blog was her introduction to the students at her school about newsela.com, which was a great tool to use, if I were an actually credentialed teacher, but topically showed me how to use the site to keep up with daily events on pretty much any passion that exists out there in the world. I really want to join this site, but you must have a code from a teacher, which is hard to obtain when you think the teacher doesn’t respond to your comments. Even so, I examined all of the stories I could find, and yes, it was very informative and contained tons of information on things I like and many of which I have no interest. Being able to discern between the two is easy, so the site makes a lot of sense to me.

What I really like about Dianne’s blogs is that there is always something that a student or teacher can learn something new about. She seems to do her homework and know where the weaknesses really are in our educational system, especially in the 21st Century framework. Once I am established as teacher, I feel that examples like Dianne’s will help me organize the way I teach. Dianne really contributes to wanting our students to do better and have more technical skills, and that is an asset for me to emulate.