Let's Talk Tech!

Reflection My Views on Technology My views of using technology in education have not changed through the reading, researching, and learning in this course. I have always thought that it is important to include lots of technology into the classroom in order to best prepare my 21st century learners for their futures. In my first blog post , I shared that over half of my students will have future careers in jobs that do not yet exist. I still believe that teaching students how to appropriately, safely, and effectively use technology at a young age will help them to be successful in those careers. What has changed throughout this course is my knowledge on the tools that I can use in the classroom with my students to engage them in digital safety work as well as academic work tied to Common Core standards that is taught or reinforced with technology. Some of these resources were brand new to me and others I had heard about but forgotten about. I am excited to continue to use Wakelets to ke...

Social Media in Education Social Media and Teachers The topic that I chose to explore was social media for teachers. Why should teachers use social media? What are the benefits? What are the responsibilities of teachers? In a world where social media is more prevalent than ever, I thought this would be an interesting topic to dive deeper into. The @DavidGeurin Blog was the first place that I went because his post “ 7 Reasons to Use Social Media in Your School ” sounded like it would be an interesting read. I was excited to see that he summed up his article with a great infographic!  Image Source:  The @DavidGeurin Blog   My district focuses a lot on the parent-teacher partnership. I love the idea of incorporating social media into the classroom as a way to engage with parents and show off their student’s work. I also love the idea of using social media in the classroom as a way to promote positive messages. There is so much negativity in the world these days and typicall...

Data Mine What I Found and Where I Found It I decided to dig deep into my digital tattoos and see what was out there on the internet about me. This is something I did for a class in my undergrad program about 10 years ago, so although it was not an entirely new experience, I knew that I had 10 year’s worth of information that would be new.  Image Source: Gfycat For my data mine, I went to several sources. Many of these sources would only let me get so far without paying, but even getting as far as I did, I found a lot of interesting information. Below is a list of websites I traveled to for my data mine and what I found. Google and Google Images : The first place I looked was Google. I decided to Google my first and last name, my nickname and last name, my Instagram handle, my Facebook name, and my phone number to see what appeared. On Google, I found: • My wedding website (theknot.com) with photos, information about my wedding venue and date, and a story of my relationship with m...

Accessibility  Why Accessibility in Education?  Having accessible technology in the classroom is incredibly important. Just like having other accessibility features in a school or classroom (wheelchair ramps, elevators, step stools, hand rails, etc.), technology in education needs to be accessible for all learners. This might mean students who have physical disabilities, learning disabilities, or even students who don’t share the same native language as their peers. All children have a right to a great education that will prepare them for the world, regardless of their needs. Providing them with the tools necessary to have that is our job as educators. In my classroom, I do not have too much experience with needing to use different accessibility settings on our classroom technology (iPads), but I have had some experiences. Last year, I had a student who had just moved to America. She barely spoke English and relied heavily on Google Translate as well as VoiceOver features and ...

Professional Learning Networks Twitter Apprehension I was in late middle school/early high school when Twitter first became popular. At that time, I was very interested in using Twitter to keep up with pop culture and to occasionally chat with friends. That phase lasted only a year or two for me and I haven’t been back on since. When I first read that I would need to be back on Twitter to find a Professional Learning Network (PLN), I’m pretty sure I let out a groan. At that time if you asked me what words came to mind when I heard the word “Twitter”, I would’ve said: politics, arguments, marketing, toxic, and time-wasting. I did not think that there was any chance I would find this exercise to be engaging, helpful, or valuable for me in any way…and boy, was I wrong!  Image Source: Teach Thought   Just a Few of Many Resources Found My favorite part to have come out of this experience on Twitter are the resources that I’ve been collecting! I have been reading and retweeting sev...