DAY 14 - Feeling confident!

 Quick Notes:

- Blog posts/designs should have light background and dark text. ***I've lost marks on an assignment for this before haha

- Google Maps --> Your Places to access Map designs. 

Today's Reflection:

- As we're moving into the last couple days of classes, it's crazy to think how confident I feel using programs I didn't even know existed four weeks ago. This got me thinking about how students would feel as they begin to build these new skills. By reusing the same 3-5 main programs over a 4-week program, learning about each platform becomes cyclical and cumulative. As you go back into your projects every time, you naturally begin to explore more options within the same platform. Eventually the shortcuts, menus, and actions begin to repeat themselves and, without really thinking about it, you're developing critical thinking and computational skills. 

- For emerging readers and writers, computer icons and symbols also offer alternative forms of reading. One of the best tidbits of knowledge I gained from my last practicum was when my cooperating teacher explained that even for kids who "can't read," if you show them a bottle of Pepsi or a Nike shoe, they know what those letters say. In other words, technology can potentially create an avenue or area of interest where students can take their existing knowledge of the logos, icons, and symbols they see on a computer, and transfer those strategies to learning printing, cursive, punctuation, numbers, etc.