Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Digital Literacy Workshop-Transforming Teaching and Learning.

I loved the visual of the tortoise and the hare growth mindset. I can apply this concept to my own personal life and struggles with my job. My new motto is "not yet". I can see this in the struggles of the ELL students I tutor. Learning is a process that takes time sometimes slow and steady. The 21st century skills or higher order thinking has been around a long time. The 4c's : creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration viewed under technology do offer new ideas.

Monday, January 18, 2016

Digital Citizenship (Digital Footprint thoughts)

In the Digital Citizenship course, I learned about keeping my classroom's internet use safe for everyone. At first, I wasn't very interested in this course because it asked me to read the appropriate use policy that students and teachers need to follow. After reading over the major sections, I realized that the policy contains guidelines that most if us are following anyways. That got me to thinking why we have to put a policy in place for students and teachers, which brought me to the 'new' digital/ social media era and our responsibility as teachers.

I think most adults understand boundaries, appropriate use of technology and how our digital footprint can represent us in a positive or negative light. Some adults don't and end up paying the price in fines or embarrassment. In this, it is our job as teachers to pass this knowledge on to our students. If we can teach kids to use the internet responsibly, we may have a greater impact on their lives than we imagine. This course touched on the subject of cyber bullying and digital footprints. A digital footprint is essentially what you leave behind on the internet for others to find. When I googled myself, I found some pictures from an old MySpace account I had in middle school and no longer knew how to access. While there was nothing bad on this account, I could no longer log into it and those pictures are up there to stay unless I contact MySpace directly to have them taken down.

This doesn't bother me, because like I mentioned, the pictures are harmless (goofy 7th grade me with braces playing arcade games). But what if I had fallen into to cyber bullying and posted something I couldn't take back? What if I had put up inappropriate pictures to look cool or funny? I remember being in middle school and wanting to have more visits on my MySpace page. Today, kids are looking for likes on Facebook. Nothing has changed since I was in school,  just the websites. In this, I think as children use the internet at school, it is our job as teachers to show them what's appropriate. While I teach Elementary school and don't anticipate social media being a huge issue, I still think my students need to know what appropriate use of the internet looks like. I'm hoping to start a blog this year to show students how to post things online appropriately. I would also like to teach them about the concept of digital footprint at this young age, just so they're aware it exists.

Overall, after taking this course, I'm realizing that teachers need to mentor their students to use technology in a safe and appropriate manner. Even at a young age, I think this lesson will make a positive impact on student's internet behaviors.


Wednesday, January 13, 2016

I recently took a cloud academy course on using gmail and calendars and I loved it. I could do it from comfort of my home and at my convenience. the powerpoint and video were an easy format to follow. I will definitely recommend this to my colleagues!

I am now using gmail pretty fluently and starting to use some of the tricks we were shown such as adding a date to my calendar. I am adding event to calendar, scheduling meetings, looking at calendar overlays. Adding weather, it's a whole new world! I plan to keep track of coaching dates and student check-ins with this as well!

I am still unsure as to how I will use calendar with my classes, but I may just start with showing my student how easy it is to use and how it has helped organize me! Thanks all! Lisa B. @ MBMS

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Digital Literacy

This is the first time for me to blog in this forum. Last week during break I took the Calendar and Email course. I have used google email before and am glad this district has changed to google email. The google calendar is new to me and I am excited to use it. I like taking online courses and looking forward to taking more.