Social Media and the classroom:

Social Media as a classroom resource:

            While I stand by my opinion that social media such as Facebook should not be used by teachers to communicate with students, there is a place for social media in education.  Sites such as Pinterest and Classroom2.0 are beneficial.  The use of media as a tool is crucial in this day and age both for educators and students.

            As educators it is necessary to stay current with media and digital tools.  Students are comfortable with media and using it meets them in their comfort zone.  Additionally teachers can collaborate with other educators, find information, ask questions and organize ideas.  It is now possible to link in to what educators around the world use and are finding success with.  Educators will be more informed well rounded and equipped to help students become critical thinkers and problem solvers.

            Students will benefit from learning on tools that interest them and they are already comfortable with. Media puts at their fingertips experts to learn from. They are not limited to just their teacher’s knowledge on a subject.  Using Media enables them to learn in a style that suits them.  Research comes to life through video and interactive games.

            A teacher would be remiss to not take advantage of the media available to them to organize and broaden their reach of students.  Both teachers and students benefit from the use of social media to find ideas, collaborate, and learn new things.  

Evaluating Websites, part of a teachers responsibilty

Evaluating Websites, part of the Teacher's responsibility.

            Evaluating websites is an iatrical part in putting together your digital curriculum.  You want to make sure the information you are promoting, as an aid is accurate, safe, and beneficial to your students and their families.

            If the information is inaccurate you risk promoting or teaching wrong information.  Your credibility is also at risk, if a website is not current or accurate.  Parents and students count on teachers to provide truthful information that will aid their children.

            Knowing about a website and it’s content is also important to keeping children safe.  A site with many advertisements or links would not be advisable.  The reason being it is much harder to protect children from clicking an inappropriate link.  We have talked about the dangers of the Internet and websites should be monitored for those reasons.

            It is important that as teachers we don’t waste a family’s precious time on websites that offer nothing significant for the child.  We want to help families and children learn to be productive members of society.  There is nothing more frustrating than websites that just suck up time with no benefit.

            The obligation as a teacher is great.  Morally they need to provide a stimulating, helpful, and safe learning environment.  Websites can be a valuable resource to education.  

Shouldn't All Lessons be Integrated?

Recently I was required to create a lesson plan that crossed over more than one subject. I chose to incorporate math, computer, and science.  The children were required to input data and then translate that data into a graph.  Then they were required to interpret information from the graph.  I am happy when I realize that I have actually used something I learned in class in real life.  I know my students will too.

 

The children input the amount of fruits and vegetables they ate along with their energy level.  Above I mentioned the subjects they covered, but more took place than just subjects and standards being met.  They had the opportunity to reflect on their own healthy eating habits.  They learned to think critically and apply what they learned to real life.  I asked some open-ended questions to keep them thinking.

I believe it is absolutely necessary to integrate multiple tools and subjects in most, if not all lessons.  Practically there is no possible way for a teacher to get all the information required without integrating lessons.  It is a good way to teach a new skill while reviewing an old one.  I also believe open-ended questions are required to keep children’s minds going and to be innovative

Teaching Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

When I was in elementary school, our teachers used dittos and our research was done solely out of an encyclopedia.  We used national geographic if we wanted to see a good picture. Spelling and penmanship were important subjects. (I was not great at either.)  I am older so computers were not even a thought for the classroom or even the office staff. It was big news when our school received a Xerox machine. Teachers hand wrote their assignments, movies were shown on a large projector.  It was amazing to see the teacher use transparencies.  

Now students and teachers can Google something and see it immediately along with multiple sources.  Not only in a 2 dimensional picture but often 3 dimensional. With the use of computer few schools even teach cursive, and spell check makes spelling less important. Teachers can print worksheets in their classroom or better yet allow students to do the work on the computer. I doubt my children even know what a ditto is, or most of my college classmates for that matter. There are interactive large boards and Excel can average your grades for you.

There have been many complaints nowadays with all that teachers are held responsible for.  State standards, evaluations, health concerns to name a few.  As I wrote this I realized how in some ways teachers have more tools to save them time and enable them to be more efficient.  When I went to the fair this summer, there was an old school house that had a display of what was required of teachers early on.  They had to arrive to school early make sure there was wood or coal for heat. They also had to clean the schoolhouse themselves and they were not allowed to date in many cases. Not to mention teach children of varying ages, can you imagine the lesson plans.  So more and more I am coming to realize that a teacher’s job has never been easy.  It has just changed over the years.  Some things are easier and new things have come into play.  It will be interesting to see what is required in the next 40 years.  I decided to teach because I love children and I wanted to give back and invest in their lives.  I imagine that has been the case of most teachers for many years.

Digital Identity

Sept15, 2013

Digital identity

What is digital identity; well basically what we post digitally that is what the digital world knows us as.  Often times adults as well as children don’t think about that.  If it isn’t something you would want a parent, boss, or grandmother to see, don’t post it.

I feel oftentimes our digital identity is the identity we create for the world to see.  What I mean is we can recreate ourselves.  We can be the perfect parent, fun party girl, or world traveler.  The problem with this is it may not be who we really are.

When adolescence create this pretend world they open themselves up for bullying and worse predators.  What is posted can’t be deleted forever.  It can come back to haunt you in later years when applying to college or for a job.

I want children and adolescents to know the danger in getting caught up in having your identity in social media. “Likes” can falsely affect self-esteem.  It is so important to be yourself and only post what you wouldn’t mind ANYONE seeing. 

Creating on Excel

Creating on Excel, Oh the possiblities!

Well, after finishing the excel assignment my initial feeling is one of relief.  I didn’t know if I would be able to get it done in time. 

I’ve been asked to share what I learned new.  Everything was new with the exception of basic word functions.  I learned how to use /,+,-,* to create formulas.  I understood the concept of making formulas but learning how to plug it in and make it work on the spreadsheet was a different story. At times I thought I would never get it.  Thinking I may need to take a class just on how to use excel but, in the end being able to do it.

Playing around with the spreadsheet and graphs to make them easy and interesting to read was a challenge.  Experimenting with colors and a wide array of graph choices was fun.

The uses in the classroom are endless.  Students would use math, language, reading and art.  Once they learned how to plug in data the sky is the limit.  They would be able to graph everyday things, work on math skills, as well as make hypothesis and prove theories. They could also create tables of information comparing different countries on everything from health issues to population.  Perhaps the best skills would be cognitive, creative thinking and problem solving.

This class has been a challenge for me. Truly learning something new with every assignment, I am making the next right step.