Digital Portfolio Reflection

Creating my digital Portfolio was exciting.  The website I chose to create my portfolio is About me.  I had no idea how to work this site but once I explored I saw how user friendly it was to use.  About me had only a few choices of design backgrounds; but, About me allowed me to choose my own background and that made up for what the site did not have.  When writing the text it only permitted 2500 text characters.  I felt it should have stated that before I wrote my biography.  The choices of fonts were many but it did not have enough good fonts to make your page appealing.  On the other hand, I had plenty of colors to choose.

          However, the highlight of this website was uploading your favorite assignments that were done on websites.  This was very easy to do.  I am not a fan of having my social networking sites on my portfolio so I avoid uploading them.  I believe your social life should remain private.   I wished the site had an area where I could upload my favorite assignments from the software’s I use.  That feature would have made my page worth while viewing. 

          I was concerned that I could not add my resume.  However, as I was searching I found out that site Google will allow me to create a resume page, and upload all of my favorite software assignments.  Once I created my site page I was able to link it to my portfolio.  Creating my portfolio was an awesome adventure!  

Check out my about.me profile!

Self Evaluation

I truly enjoy doing a digital story.  The assignment that I chose is “I knew I was going to be an educator when…”.  This activity was different because I had to use my cell phone to capture the pictures.  As an educator I can see how cell phones can play an intrigue part in students’ learning.  Taking pictures is one task but students can do research, take quizzes and create digital stories.  I just hope that the school districts can see what most educators see. Also, they need someone that can work out the kinks and take the fear away from using cell phones in the class. 

The rubric I chose was Movie Maker.  I find it very long but it fit most of my criteria.

Story line – Story line has a clear beginning, middle and end.  It is well developed

Point of view awareness of audience – Strong awareness of audience in design; explains clearly why they felt the words, audio and graphics chosen to fit the largest audience

Dramatic Question – Little or no attempt is made to pose a dramatic question or answer it.

Clarity of voice – voice quality fluctuates though out the presentation

Pacing Narrative – The pace (rhythm and voice punctuation) fits the story line and helps the audience really “get into” the story

Meaningful Audio Sound track – Music is distracting in appropriate or was not used

Quality of Image – An attempt was made to use images to create an atmosphere/tone but it needed more work.  Image choice is logical.

Story Detail – The story seems to need more editing. It is noticeably too long or too short in more than one section.

Grammar and language usage – Grammar and usage were correct (for the dialect chosen) and contributed to clarity style and character development.

I would modify this rubric by deleting dramatic question, grammar and language usage because this type of assignment did not require questioning neither did it need subtitles running through the movie. If I had to follow this rubric I would have scored higher. According to this 10 category rubric I scored a 23/30

Digital Story Becoming a Teacher





Creating a digital story is always fun and exciting!  However, this assignment was a little different but not impossible to do.  I have done several of digital stories using a video and a digital camera but never using a cell phone.  Capturing pictures from your cell phone is different.  Some of my pictures I took were pictures I had but I used my cell phone to take the picture of the picture. I can truly see how a lesson would take place using a cell phone.  Many students should really enjoy this activity. 

Using Cell Phones in the Classroom

After waiting and hoping someone would respond to my request of using cell phones in the classroom; I made a phone call to a former colleague of mind asking her help on cell phone use in the classroom.  Kirstin worked for my school district as a Resource Teacher Coordinator of the Office of Newark instructional technology.  Kirstin was assigned to different schools in Newark and her job was to support the technology teachers and help classroom teachers incorporate technology in their lesson plans.   One of her job assignments was getting schools to use cell phones in the classroom.

          Kirstin did a workshop teaching the technology teachers on how to use cell phones in the classroom and as a result they would turnkey the information to the administrators and teachers.  She introduced a web 2.0 tools called poll everywhere.  Students would use their cell phones as an assessment tool.  They can answer the multiple choice questions and open ended questions by texting their answers.  Kirstin said, “The response would be answered instantly and the results would be on the website”.  If a student did not have a cell phone the student can go on the website and answer the questions with the same results.  In addition, this project was demonstrated to the teachers.

          According to the Pupil Safety Policy, students are allowed to carry cell phones but under certain conditions.  As long as it is used for safety methods , concealed (this is written in black bold letters), and in a carry bag with cell phone turned off at all times during school day on school premises or at school functions. The district of Newark is very adamant about their policy.

          Parents are responsible to this policy too.  They must sign a parent guardian user agreement and acknowledge that the district assumes no responsibility for any loss or damage to the cell phones.  I asked Kirstin, what she thinks the parents would say if students can work with their cell phones.  Kirstin mentioned with the web 2.0 toll poll everywhere parents can go online and look at the students’ data.  They will get a chance to see how the cell phone operates in full force and be able to give feedback.

          As for a technology problem there was none that existed.  However, the biggest challenge that was presented was the use of the cell phone and breaking the pupil safety policy.  If their policy was broken the students’ cell phone would be confiscated and their rights for having a cell phone would be suspended or revoked.  With that in mind the project of using cell phones in the classroom was not embraced by the district of Newark.

Works Cited

Instant Audience Feedback. (n.d.). Retrieved August 7, 2011, from Poll Everywhere: http://www.polleverywhere.com/

Newark Public School Policy. (2008, August 19). Retrieved August 6, 2011, from Pupil Safety: http://www.nps.k12.nj.us/228610716915890/lib/228610716915890/_files/pupil_safety.pdf