Educator and Learner

Perspective Changes on use of Technology in Education Before beginning this course I was very excited because I enjoy using technology in the classroom and wanted to gain more tools and resources to incorporate.  Although I try to use technology as much as possible, I knew that I had a lot of room for growth.  I realized after learning more about active learning that I tend to use technology to increase engagement in the classroom.  For instance, when I was at a school district with SmartBoards I used them daily and thought this was using technology effectively since I spent a lot of time making my pr esentations visually appealing.   However, active learning is not just about surface level engagement, but creating student centered lessons that promote collaboration and reflection.  I do use a variety of websites in my classroom such as Nearpod, Padlet, and Popplet that I believe require my students to actively learn, but I want to ensure I'm incorp...

9 Ways to Use Social Media in your Classroom Michael-Ann Cerniglia discusses in her article the importance of incorporating social media into the classroom that encourages critical thinking skills and engagement.  Since it can be overwhelming integrating many new tools into the classroom at the beginning of the year, she proposes 9 methods for each of the 9 months in the school year. Image Source Students (and yourself!) pick a social media site and topic to follow  Blog accounts are set up for each student and they post and comment on each others accounts Twitter accounts are set up for each student and a class hashtag is created to post quick homework assignments Scoop.it can be used to follow current news and then students can comment summaries of the articles Students can use Pinterest to pin classroom assignments to a virtual board Tumblr can be used by students to manage blogs and updates in the classroom Allow students to use their cameras to take picture...

How am I Perceived Online? Image Source Previous to this assignment I have googled myself because I was curious to discover how current or future employers would see me through a digital lens.  Although I'm not a consistent social media poster, I have had a facebook since I was in high school in addition to instagram, snapchat, and twitter.  I didn't completely understand the idea of a digital tattoo until I was in college and social media was becoming much more popular.  In a college education class we spent time discussing the importance of being private on social media in order to not be seen by our students and separate our personal and professional life.  However, I have now realized through this graduate class that having an online presence is not a negative thing, but instead provides many opportunities, especially as an educator.  Although I'm still cautious and very aware when I post on social media, I would like to increase my online presence...

Executive Functioning Skills Image Source As I finished my first year teaching special education at the high school level, an area that each of my students needed to improve on was their executive functioning skills.  Although I completed binder and planner checks regularly, it was difficult for my students to gain their organizational skills independently.  During the school year I kept track of homework, projects, and assessments dates for each of my students' classes.  However, I felt that I was reminding the students too much about due dates and without my prompting they would have completely forgotten.  One of my goals for the summer was to find an easy to use app that I could introduce to my students that could be used as an online planner.  myHomework App Image Source I believe I found an excellent application that will help my students not only gain their executive functioning skills, but help them organize and plan during the school y...

What are Professional Learning Networks (PLNs)?  Image Source The first thing that came to my mind when introduced to PLNs was how the high school I work at has a variety of professional learning committees.  I soon realized that professional learning systems, professional learning networks, professional learning plans, and professional learning committees all have different names but have the same concept in mind.  They are all learner driven and allow educators to explore topics that are specific to their needs.  For instance, in my professional learning committee we are focused on implementing restorative justice into our teaching practice.  Our committee formed because we are all passionate about this topic and work together in order to research and share ideas with one another.  PLNs consist of people working together, sharing ideas, and analyzing resources.  Another PLN that I'm a member of is Pinterest because I use this website...

Educational Technology Research In order to ensure we as teachers are reaching all of our students and making positive impacts, it is important that we collect data and analyze research.  For instance, the use of technology plays a crucial role in the classrooms; therefore, we need to guarantee it is being incorporated into the classroom meaningfully.  There are a variety of educational technology research reports available that help teachers, parents, students, administration, and community members become aware of the many benefits of technology and areas that can be improved upon.  Below are great resources that can be used to analyze educational technology. Project Tomorrow Speak Up Image Source This organization gathers opinions about the use of technology in education.  From the 2017 and 2018 report, I found the following statistics to be surprising: 56% of parents are concerned their child is not learning the correct skills to be successful in their ...