Beyond the Books

 Reflection 1 Image Source: Adorama The Process & Its Challenges     The process of the " Learning Specialist/Instructional Designer" proposal has been an interesting one. As a 4th year teacher, being fairly new in the field of education, I have been integrating technology into my lessons since my first day in the classroom--student teaching semester included. However, I have never truly considered what the advantages/disadvantages were of certain technologies until I was in charge of my own curriculum and was able to see firsthand what worked for students and teachers, such as myself, and what sorts of technologies only prolonged the teaching process and made it difficult for my students to learn actively and effectively.     Figuring out what technological piece my school is in need of was easy: a SMART board; it was the only practical thing I could think of since so many teachers in our building have had difficulty with their projectors and screens--not t...

 Social Media: Gateway To or From Mental Health? Image Source: MSU Denver Social Media: What's Truly On the Other End of the Screen?     We have all been there--finding ourselves scrolling through social media or texting for hours on end--at least at some point in our lives. Maybe it's intentional, maybe it's not...     Social media has provided us with many different emotions: laughter, tears, anger. We use it for communicating, sharing our thoughts and media; some have even found ways to make a profit off the content that they post.     It has become easier to send our friends a meme or gif--an emoji--to show how we feel. "Shooting a text" is quicker than waiting for the phone to ring until someone picks up on the other end. Somehow conversations last longer when they are written versus being spoken. Sure, it's a convenient way to stay in touch, but how "in touch" are we really?      Platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram...

 A Reflection to Move Forward Image Source: Tenor Overview     Taylor Swift's happy dance accurately describes how I feel at the end of the course, just as it did in the beginning of the course. I don't mean that I'm excited for the class to be over, but that I have made it this far and have been able to gather new information which I am BEYOND excited to incorporate in my classroom. This course has given me insight to parts of Ed Tech I haven't looked into before, and I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to learn alongside many wonderful educators who were open to sharing their insight and experiences with the class. Looking Back     At the beginning of the course, I had general knowledge on technology usage/incorporation in the classroom and how to use technology (somewhat) effectively on a day-to-day basis. I knew how to use the technology that is in my classroom (Chromebook, projector, speakers, etc), as well as the features each of these pieces contain....

 Digital Tattoo: What I Leave Behind on Social Media Image Source: The Ubyssey Digital Tattoos: What Are They?     Although they aren't legitimate tattoos that we get inked onto our bodies, they are just as permanent and can follow us everywhere--just digitally. Digital tattoos are the imprints we leave behind online on our websites, on our social media, and all information on us that is considered public record can be left behind for years to come.     These digital tattoos reflect on our decisions, our posts and actions, through the online world. It is important to maintain a good record on our social media (as well as other sites we're a part of or run) in order to maintain a good reputation. Same as our criminal record, digital tattoos can reveal a lot about who we are and what we've said or done, which many people have access to at their fingertips.     Why would this be important? We keep our social lives on social media, but we can behave d...

 My PLN Professional Learning Network Image Source: Author via Twitter Account What is a PLN? Image Source: PNG Mind     I have to admit, it was never my strong suit--Twitter--as I saw it as another social platform where celebrities gossiped about each other and started drama, and my generation used it to share said drama or repost memes. That may have been what turned me away from Twitter in the first place. It was a big social media platform when I was in high school, but it never truly appealed to me.      When I first read that one of our assignments was going to be based around Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) on Twitter, I didn't know what to expect. First, I wanted to be aware of what PLNs are and how they help out other educators. Once I completed my research, I realized that I was already part of a PLN, just not on Twitter. Facebook also consists of many great PLN pages with educators of all grade levels and from all over the country, as well ...

 "Ramp to Academic Accessibility" Accessibility in the Classroom     "S/he gets to type it out, that's not fair!"                                                                   Image Source: Tidy Lady     "How come so-and-so gets to talk into the computer, but I  can't?"     Over time, we as educators can get pretty exhausted from hearing  our students continuously complain about how their peers are receiving accommodations in the classroom, and they are not. What our students don't understand is that we don't hand out "freebies" or "easier" assignments to students because we want to make everyone else's time in school more difficult--it's because these students need the modifications and accommodations in order t...