Tristen Haley Spooner 2020

  Welcome back little frogs,      Thank you for coming back to my blog. This week I am discussing Flipgrid which is a technological tool that provides an accessible discussion platform with teachers from all levels of education. This week I retrieved my information from Jenna Abbott who is an author in our E-book. The link to the E-book is below if you would like to learn about other instructional technology tools in HRD.      Flipgrid is a resource that can be used from both an instructional standpoint and a participant standpoint. Teachers can create a "grid" which from my understanding is similar to google classroom. In this grid they can present a prompt or question for other teachers to reply and discuss via video. However,  only those with a trainer/teacher provided class link and code will have access to their Flipgrid community, topics, prompts, and peer responses. Teachers must then create...

Welcome back little frogs!  Thanks for coming back to my blog today. I want to talk about Nearpod . You might be wondering what Nearpod is. For my teacher friends this is THE GAME CHANGER! Nearpod is a software that allows teachers to create interactive lesson plans. I feel like a saleswoman writing this blog because essentially I am. Real Talk though people.. I found this software and I feel inspired to teach again. My fear of teaching is that I am so unorganized. Being a teacher requires massive amounts of structure and organization which I AM NOT! Nearpod allows teachers to easily formatively assess the students. Create gamified activities. Review student work. Create live participation and provides student paced activities. With Nearpod you can convert PowerPoint, Google slides, PDF, YouTube videos, and video file. Most importantly makes lessons interactive. This software is perfect for both online learning or project for class.  Here is a quick YouTube video (link below) ...

 Hello Everyone, Thank you for coming back to my blog. This week I decided to get deep and discuss mental health. Stress. Depression. Anxiety. Things everyone feels but often neglect to take care of. I was that person and eventually the baggage heavy. I think the society we live in is so competitive that it leaves little room to take a break. You are either on the train or off, but either way it will leave the station with or without you. This mentality leaves little room to make sure you're healthy; both mentally and physically. I created this short video that goes more in depth on mental health. This video will also provide resources to reach out and get help. Lastly, this blog is a reminder that this life is not a contest and the only priority you should ever have is YOU!  https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mental+health+awareness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUlBZuQ2c0Q https://www.betterhelp.com/start/

  This week I decided to dive into something I am very passionate about and that is mental health awareness. I started listening to "The Dear Body Podcast" . I decided to listen to  Mental Health, Perfectionism & Healing Body Image With Former D1 Collegiate Athlete @VictoriaGarrick. I highly recommend this podcast to anyone not only college athletes. The author, Victoria discussed her experience and struggle with pressure that ultimately led her to having an eating disorder. She openly shares her story and allows others to share theres as well. It is incredible how relatable many of her issues are even for those who are not athletes.  As a woman I can attest to body shaming and having a poor self body image. I think more women struggle with this every single day than most believe. It is not just women who feel this way either. Many men struggle with body image issues so this podcast could be useful to anyone.  Vic...

 Hello Everyone,  Welcome back to my blog. I am going to discuss another free photo editing resource. Many people do not know that Google documents have a photo editing tab. After uploading the photo into google docs you can then edit and crop the photo. I decided to try this image editing tool and love that it allows you to draw on the photo itself. This is a fantastic tool for teachers or individuals who are providing instructions or examples. I have included a diagram of how to upload a photo to google docs and instructions on how you get started. I eagerly encourage you all to give this a shot.  Further instructions-  From your Google Doc, select the Insert menu and choose Drawing In the drawing click on the Insert Image icon and upload your image or choose one from other options Once the image uploads, click on it to select it and you can now crop and edit the image When you Save and Close to return to your doc, you have the cropped image If you later edit the d...

 Hello Everyone,  Welcome back to my blog! This week I want to discuss Microsoft Powerpoint and how it is more than just  a presentation tool. I am sure by the title of this blog you can assume I am talking about photo editing. Yes, that is correct! This tool is actually super fun to mess around with so I highly recommend giving it a shot. I recently applied for my dream job and this editing tool couldn't have come at a better time. I am applying for a 6 month traveling job that requires taking photo of National Parks. In the the job application I must submit a nature photo. I chose to edit a photo of the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Here is the photo of the mountains prior to editing on powerpoint.  Here is the photo after editing. I chose to darken the city underneath the mountains to pull more of a focal point on the mountains themselves.  I realize I am not a professional editor, but this tool makes a mediocre editor like myself seem so...