There are many benefits of blogging for students. Blogging is a way for students to express themselves in a safe place while gaining the confidence they need to keep moving forward. It is a place to collaborate and share ideas with their peers as well as their teachers. It is also a great way for students to see the progress of the work they have been completing and to keep it organized. It is also a way to be creative with their work.
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I really enjoy this Multimedia Tools in Education class. It had a variety of assignments that kept my interest and pushed me out of my comfort zone yet again. I used different apps that I was not familiar with and got to be creative with the assignments at the same time. I will also be able to take a lot of what I learned back to work to share with my colleagues and students. Mr. Hagedorn is a wonderful teacher. I have had him before and I really like how he runs his classes. The videos he creates each week are very helpful. He is also easy to get a hold of if you have a question, gives positive feedback as well as suggestions to make something better and is laid back and understanding.
Artifact 1: Capstone
I enjoyed creating the capstone assignment. I was nervous at first, but once I got started I became more confident. The example that was given helped a lot. I decided to use Google slides and record myself using screencastify because that is what we have access to at work. it took a lot of time, but I was happy with the finished project and it will be fun to show my students when we the time allows.
Artifact 2: Tell me in a Graphic
I was not familiar with Google draw so this was a lot more complicated for me that it should have been. However, I was glad I was able to experience it and now hopefully confident enough to use it in my classroom. it was very difficult to created drawings with what was given. Some people that I showed my assignment to needed a little guidance to understand that what was drawn in the upper right hand corner was a stethoscope. It would be a fun assignment to do instead of having students just copying images from the internet to their assignment.
I feel that graphic design can and should be tied into all subject areas at some point. It is so important to give students the opportunity to be creative and make their work unique while still learning the curriculum. When information or different topics are brought to your attention in a catchy way, it is easier to want to learn as well as stay interested in it.
I know that many people, myself included, are visual learners and highly benefit from pictures, graphs and various ways of being creative with showing information. My students are usually drawn to a catchy song, something that sticks out in a commercial or are drawn to something specific in a magazine or book which is great. So, catching their attention at school the same way would be very beneficial as well as let them be part of creating something, too.
Whenever I can, I try to include pictures, slogans, links to graphs or other important information to keep my students interested in learning new material. Even when I am creating new slides, I try to keep them interesting enough so hopefully they stay focused and learn what is expected. During health class, I try to give students options to adhere to their different learning styles and personalities. During the drug unit, students get creative by either creating a poster, pamphlet or Google Slideshow with all of the necessary information. We also created a drug free shirt which used to always be on paper. Thanks to covid, it helped me push out of my own comfort zone and allow for creativity using slides to create one. During the sex ed unit, we do something similar with STI’s and for the disease unit also. The possibilities are endless during our SEL lessons as well and as the years go on, I am always amazed by the uniqueness.
When I first started teaching, I was so afraid to change up and give options for assignments because I thought everyone should complete the same assignment so it could be graded fairly. As the years go on, I realize that does not have to be the case and it is so amazing to see the different styles of all my students and they are still learning everything that was expected.
Collaborative Web Tools in Education Artifacts and Class Reflection
I really enjoyed the create your own adventure lesson. It was hard for me to figure out at first since we had to find ways to collaborate with our group, but once we got the hang of it it was fun. As soon as I started giving ideas with my group I began to think of numerous way I could incorporate this into my own classes. During Health and SEL class, I would like to try this assignment with a bullying lesson, drug scenarios, choosing abstinence or dealing with different illnesses. This lessons seems to be very versatile while including both information learned and collaboration skills. I could also use this for different PE instances such as an add-on assignment, or students sitting out for various reasons on any sport or activity. I am so happy that I learned about this lesson and can't believe I never thought to do this before on my own. Since we all had different spring breaks and it was hard to finish the entire choose your own adventure assignment, this is what we had as a good start.
Another assignment that I really enjoyed was the collaboration activity-remix. I liked that this assignment pushed me in to taking an assignment that I do every year and change it up for the better. I took a standard lesson of creating a drug free t shirt design that is usually done alone and on paper to a collaborative assignment that is done via Google slides. I like that students now have to converse with one another, hear other peoples ideas as well as use technology to create their shirt. Being able to collaborate is such an important skill to have so it is great to practice that skill every chance you can.
Reflection
Overall, I really enjoyed this class. The instructor was very nice and understanding with deadlines especially with so many of us having different spring breaks. The directions were all very clear and easy to follow. The discussion topics were relevant and I enjoyed reading so many from different people in the class. I also liked that it pushed me to try new things and actually be relative to my job. I was able to gain a lot of ideas to bring back to work and share with my colleagues. Some assignments pushed me out of my comfort zone which I need because I tend to not do that on my own. I enjoyed listening the quite a few of the Ted Talks as they were interesting and informative. I learned a lot from this course.
Foundations of Educational Technology artifacts and reflection
I enjoyed the discussions in this class as well as the assignments. Some definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone. I do not always like that, however, I know I need that push and it is good for me. I learned a lot from y classmates and through various assignments and the feedback from my teacher. If I had to pick two of my favorite assignments form this class, I would have to pick Evaluating Digital Resources and The Guideline Design.
I enjoyed Evaluating Digital Resources because it is something I probably would not have taken the time to do on my own. Until this assignment, I did not even realize that Kahoot! offered so much with a paid membership. Some of the add-ons look amazing and very useful and something that would be great for my class and school. I will be bringing this up to my boss in out next content meeting to see if it is something that would ever be able to happen. Now, I have all of the information lined up in one spot ready to present to her which is great.
The other assignment I enjoyed doing was The Guideline Design. I have never used the Google autodraw app before and I liked learning about it. This may be something I can even use with my students when creating part of an assignment. I liked exploring all of the features it had and would definitely use it again and tell me coworkers about it.
Tech and 21st century learning space design
I really enjoyed creating and designing this learning space. Now, I wish that it could become a reality for my school. Our school's fitness room is in desperate need of a makeover and this would be perfect. During this assignment, I realized how much work and planning goes in to updating and creating new spaces. Since I teach PE, I would spend a decent amount of time in the fitness room that I created, I think that is why I enjoyed it so much. Using it for personal use outside of school hours would be a total bonus. I also haven't spend a ton of time on Google Slides and I really like how user friendly it is once you get the hang of it with sizing all of the pictures and using all of the different tools.
I was very nervous to complete this assignment. I felt very overwhelmed when reading about this assignment. When reading all of the articles about the code of ethics and even doing the discussion, I was well out of my comfort zone. Everything was blending together and it was difficult for me to distinguish what went where. When I started finding research for my paper, I began to get in to the assignment. I was still nervous because I haven't really cited my sources for many years and was very lost on that part. However, after reading some articles and incorporating them in to my paper, I realized how fortunate my school is to have given all students their own device and hotspot. Without that, remote learning would be even harder than it is for us right now. I am very grateful for that. It also made me remember to focus on my students wellbeing and always reminding them that any form of bullying is not ok, even when it is not in person. I am glad that this class gave me the time and opportunity to reflect, learn and push myself when I normally would not.
21st Century Ed Leadership Artifacts and Reflection
Stephanie Haberer
I enjoyed working on the assignments during this class while also getting more practice navigating through the Google Apps. I like that all of the Google Apps that I am getting practice on in here, I can bring back and use in my daily life and lessons as a middle school PE teacher. I believe that using them in both places is helping me get better and gain confidence. The first artifact is designing and creating a faculty meeting. This was a fun experience and more challenging than I had anticipated. Since I am usually just attending, I did not realize the time and effort it takes to plan and break down a meeting while making sure to cover everything important while still having fun. As a teacher who sits through these meeting every week, I know that they are not always the most engaging or I find myself thinking of different ways I can be productive with my time. I now see that sometimes meetings will be more engaging, but sometimes they will be more cut and dry due to what information needs to be covered that week. I would be curious to see how my plan would go over with the staff in my building.
My second artifact is creating a learning walk thru that would be used my administration or teachers going in and out of classrooms. I feel that walk throughs should benefit the teacher as well as the person doing the walk through. It is so important to create positive relationships in the workplace. It also helps with information delivery and how to take feedback and advice to better yourself. I would really like to use this set of questions as a guide if I was visiting someone's room and would also like if the people visiting my room would use them as well. It is a way to get feedback as well as a confidence boost in what the found to be great in your lesson. It should never feel like a formal observation, and the more we all try to not make it feel that way, hopefully the experience will be better and more beneficial to all involved.
I enjoyed this class and feel that I am leaving with more knowledge than I started with. I really liked learning about social media in schools and how that when done correctly, it can really make a big impact for the better. Since my school is starting to get better with their social media presence, it was great to see how much more we are capable of and how it can be beneficial. I had no idea that some schools have their own or content specific social media pages that they are in charge if themselves. I feel that would be another thing added to our plates, but also with split responsibility of a content area, I think it would be enjoyable and rewarding to do so. I also enjoyed the podcasts and articles dealing with technology. At work, they expect us to use technology often, but never give us the time to learn or give PD on it during the work day or times that is manageable. Seeing how much technology is out there and able to benefit student engagement and learning keeps me motivated to continue to push myself to learn it. Seeing other teachers perspectives to different situations and articles is also great. From elementary to highs school and all subject areas, I really enjoy being able to partake in discussions over the computer.
social media blog post
As a district, our main sources of social media include Facebook and Twitter. I feel Facebook has a bigger following than Twitter, but, our admin is always pushing to follow our district on Twitter. I personally follow the district’s Facebook page, but I am not on Twitter to follow. I feel following the Facebook page is beneficial as I can see everything that is put out to the public about certain events, pictures, and recognition of teachers and ideas which is always nice to see. I feel that the people in charge of our social media do a great job promoting and showcasing everything that is being done since they are in the schools daily seeing everything being done first hand. I do wish eventually that our school will decide to turn on comments so the followers can have discussions that would be beneficial in my opinion. Even some of the negative ones, we could get feedback on how to make certain events and topics better.
As a teacher, I do not have access to make my own Facebook page for school, but they may be something that families and students would enjoy. I get a lot of lesson ideas from Facebook, Pinterest and send out a lot of information through the Remind app. I find the Remind app to be beneficial as I can send out messages to whole classes quickly as well as pick certain families that may need specific information. The downfall is that the app is optional so not all families have to download it which makes it hard to remember what families got the messages and which did not. Some parents also complain about the amount of emails/texts they get from Remind because all teachers are encouraged to use it and some do not like to be bothered even though they signed up for it. Sometimes you get some not so nice messages back which can be discouraging.
I feel that our school's policy on inappropriate technology is handled on a time to time basis. They take each situation as it comes and depending on the child and if they have an IEP etc. Cellphones are big at the middle school level. We are no longer able to take their cell phone if they are on them and have them come get them later. That used to help a bunch I feel, but now we are allowed to write them a pass to go put their phone back in their locker. This takes away from class time and many do not like to leave their phones in their locker because their lockers do not have locks and they can easily be stolen. If the student is caught being on their phone more than a few times, the teacher needs to call home and eventually write a detention. If they are on it in the locker room, they may become suspended for a day or so and have a phone call home. When students are caught sending threats on social media, it goes into investigation and can turn into a suspension and possible expulsion if it is a more serious threat like bombing or shooting up the school. Students also use their phone throughout the day when they are not allowed to to know when to meet up for a fight or where to be to watch a fight and possibly record it. Recording a fight will also land you a suspension.
As for teachers and staff using social media inappropriately, I feel that is not set in stone either as I do not see something like that listed anywhere. I am sure if you are caught posting something inappropriate or on social media during school hours, there could be a consequence.
Cyberbullying is a major issue and we as educators are always trying to stop it. We can help by actively supervising and making sure students are not on their phone during school hours. We can take it seriously when a student comes and tells us about something that is happening on social media. We are always told to tell our students to screenshot anything that you find inappropriate and hurtful on the internet in case the bully takes it down or will not admit to it. We can have PD of how to deal with cyberbullying as well as being able to ask questions any time we want to administrators so we are always aware what to look for. We also advise out students to not have a social media account so things like this can be avoided and make sure to remind the parents to know what social media their children have and how to help monitor it. We are also told to remind students that threats and cyberbullying could cause serious consequences including the police having to get involved. It is also important to stress to students that once they post something, make sure it is something they do not mind following them around for forever because once it is on the internet, there is no getting it back. I always stress that when they decide to text or post an inappropriate picture, there is no getting that back and at any time, anyone could possibly see that including future employers.
