My Journey in EDTE 2030

Like many of my peers, I've found this course to be more challenging than expected. There is a lot more work than I had anticipated but I feel that the work that I have been putting in will pay off at the end of the course. Despite everything, I really do enjoy this course because I feel like it is based on a subject that is important to discuss - technology. Technology is changing every aspect of our world and it's important that educators are able to keep up and use the resources available to them.

I've always been interested in technology enough to keep up with it but I think this course has taught me to look at it in a different way. When I see different aspects of technology I consider its use in the classroom and the pros and cons of having added to the classroom setting. I also have changed my thinking about online instruction. Before this course I would have never thought that I would be willing to teach online but now I can see that there are still ways to connect with your students and keep your lessons interactive even when you're not face-to-face.

Mobile Devices in the Classroom

Although I believe that using mobile devices in the classroom is risky, I can see the benefits of it. I'm not sure that I will personally include them in my classroom for any smart board-response apps but I could see myself finding an app that my students can use that's related to English education (vocabulary, quizzes from the readings that we've done, etc).

The first article I looked at was a news article from US News.
http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/high-school-notes/2011/10/26/teachers-use-cell-phones-in-the-classroom

The article discusses the cell-phone bans in school districts and how some teachers have found basic uses for cell-phones in their classrooms. The article provides differing options on the use - showing the pros and cons but overall they seem to have a positive outlook on their use.

The second article I found was from Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/09/25/why-a-leading-professor-of-new-media-just-banned-technology-use-in-class/

The article/ video focuses on how humans can't multitask and how technology has made multitasking so common. They did studies to see how well people perform while multitasking and found that most people did poorly when they had a distraction during the study. A teacher explains the negative effects that multitasking and technology have in the classroom and his decision to ban it.

Getting Involved | Twitter Chats

Last week I mentioned participating in one of the chats that I've been following for the last two weeks. I ended up participating in the #engchat for several reasons:

1. Educators post in that chat throughout the week and the hour that was devoted to it this week was pretty uneventful. I ended up posting later on and retweeting newer information. 
2. I was more interested in the English chat because I felt it applied to me more.
3. I was more comfortable with its format. 
4. Harper Lee is releasing a new book (a sequel to "To Kill a Mocking Bird)  and what kind of future English teacher would I be if I didn't freak out about that a little bit? 

The most I did was favorite a few things, post a tweet about Harper Lee's new book and retweet someone. I felt at ease and accepted into the "community".  I really do enjoy this chat though so I'm planning on keeping track of it. Regarding my involvement, I can see myself retweeting and favoriting things but unless I find something fantastic that I have to share, I probably won't post to the chat that often. 

Educational Games | Free Rice

Prompt: 

"Find a game that fits with your educational area of study.  Play the game and make sure it is something you would use with students.  


1. Post a response that includes a link to the game, a brief description of the game, and the subject area of the game.  Give consideration to what is being learnt by playing the game and how this is occurring."


Response:

The game I chose was for Language Arts and it focuses on expanding students' vocabulary. You're given a word and then asked to choose another word with the same meaning (Ex: Queasy means...nauseous). If you miss a word, they repeat it to make sure you know what it means. This game has 60 levels and can be as challenging or as easy as the instructor would like it to be. 


There was one extra perk that I really liked - for each correct answer, the World Food Programme donates rice to help end world hunger. 1 right = 10 grains, 5 right = 50. The website has games for ALL subject areas, so check it out! 
http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/2947

Connecting With Educators on Twitter | Following Chats

Getting to the heart of it...

These chats are ways for educators to connect and communicate. They are specific to certain topics and generate discussions that need to be had. For example, in the "No Box Thinking" chat, they have a weekly focus. The first week's focus was teamwork and how it relates to the classroom, your dreams and the students' dreams. It then went into the focus of "dreams" and how society affects it, etc. It's just very interesting to see how different educators responded to the prompts and how they think we should handle certain situations. Below are some things I observed during the chats. 

• No Box Thinking - #nbtchat 

• I was interested in how the chat has a mediator and that they guided that chat by asking simple questions with complex answers. It was also engaging - the discussion then kind of led into it's self. The mediator still asked questions but the topics seemed to blend into one another. The one issue I ran into while observing and participating in the chat is that they pushed back one of the weeks because of the Super Bowl. 

• English Edu - #engchat 

• This chat wasn't mediated as much as the #nbtchat but I was still engaged in the conversation happening. The other thing I noticed about this chat is that it was more constant - there was always someone posting something throughout the week. This chat also pertained more to me - there are always interesting links that are shared regarding literature and teaching practices that I enjoy going through and bookmarking.  

Next week, I'll be posting about getting involved in one of these chats. I'm leaning towards #engchat...

Curious to see what I'm talking about? Search #nbtchat at 8 p.m. on Sundays and #engchat at 7 p.m. on Mondays at twitter.com!  

Who I Follow and Why | Twitter

In my post "When Creating a Professional Identity..." I considered who you follow on twitter as the third element of how people perceive you. Well, I've recently followed five educators. To be fair, I will admit I did not stumble upon them by accident - many of them that I've found were listed in articles* that had "educators worth following". This doesn't mean that I just picked the first five and listed them though, some have come from different sites and all of them have been thought out. Here's who they are and why I'm following them:

• Conor P. Williams (@ConorPWilliams) - When I found Williams' account I liked the fact that he seemed to post intentionally and often. The second thing I noticed was that he was posting on current issues that involved the education system. Intrigued by this, I looked at his bio and discovered that along with being an educator, he is a writer who is passionate about education reforms. 
• Alexander Russo (@alexanderrusso) -Unlike Williams, Russo seems to be an unbiased sourced of interesting content. He doesn't seem to be pushing any agenda but rather provides other educators with ideas and articles worth thinking about. Along with that, Russo posts frequently and thoughtfully. 
•  Danielle Ganley (@MrsGanley) - I actually found Ganley while looking at another account (@webenglishteach). Ganley is an English teacher who posts fairly often. What I like most about her posts is that she seems to post positive things about the importance of education and the fact that they're relevant to my focus. 
• Jerry Blumengarten (@cybraryman1) - I found Blumengarten through my technology class but I followed him because he is the monitor for the #edchat and I was interested on keeping up with those conversations. Instead of having to search for the hashtag I can just scroll though my feed and follow conversations. Along with that, he posts links to articles and games that are useful to educators.
• Asif Wilson (@asifw)  - One of my other passions is social justice, being aware of current events and being part of the community that you're in. Asif Wilson does just that. She is part of The School Project and spoke out on the school closings in Chicago. She is an active part of her community and fights for social justice - it's inspiring. 

Article sites to look at/ consider:

• http://www.educationdive.com/news/12-education-thought-leaders-you-should-follow-on-twitter/307162/

When Creating a Professional Identity Online...

For one of my education classes, I was required to set up a professional Twitter account. Had I not done this for my job as an RA, the concept would've been completely foreign to me. Reflecting on both experiences, I've decided to compile a list of things I had to consider while setting them up:

• What picture should I use? One of the first things twitter asks you to do is customize your profile - this includes choosing a photo to represent yourself. One of the first things someone sees when looking at an account is your profile picture so this is important to consider. As twitter becomes a platform for professionals, more and more people are using professionally taken photos to represent themselves. These photos can be used not only on twitter but other professional accounts as well. I personally used an older but better quality photo of myself. 

• What do I put in my bio? Oh, the dreaded "about me" box. I've found that in these situations it's best to keep it simple - you're not writing your life story, just giving others a general perception of who you are. There are three parts to giving your audience an idea of who you are as a person, this is the first. It is important, however, to make sure you know how you want to represent yourself as a professional. Your bio is where others can get an idea of what you focus on and what kind of content (tweets, links, etc) you're going to bring to the table. 

• Who do I follow? With professional accounts it's important that you follow accounts that would be beneficial to you. Or, as my instructor put it, have a reason to follow them.  As an educator you can use your twitter to connect with other educators, find resources and engage in intellectual conversations. If your feed is full of things that aren't relevant to your field, it's hard to find what would actually help you. And although this bullet point may seem out of place, I would consider who you follow to be the third part of how people will get to know you on Twitter. 

• What do I share?  It's important to think about what information you should share as a professional. You want to be one of the accounts that people would find interesting and beneficial - you don't want to fill their feed with unnecessary posts but you also want to have a presence. I will most likely focus on educational resources, current events links, conversations, and quotes from authors. I would consider the content you share to be the second part of how people will get a feel for who you are. 

Although there were more things I took time to consider, the four listed above seemed like the most important. One main connection that I made while writing this post was that a lot of what I had to consider was about how I wanted others to perceive me as a professional. Which, I suppose, is something that is always important to keep in mind in a professional setting.