My Tech Growth over 6 Weeks

Six weeks ago I started a Technology in Education class.  I thought I was pretty tech savvy compared to most people (ahem my age) because I was already using Google Drive, docs and sheets, social media networks and had the beginnings of a PLN.  I had a pretty organized drive and was familiar with some of the ways that students used technology and the Googles in the classroom.  Then, I remember my professor opening up our class module prior to our first meeting and as I looked through the list of projects and things we would be working on I was both overwhelmed and realized I had little knowledge about all the advancements technology had in not only education but the world around us!

There have been several mind-blowing, aha! moments while in this class, and to be honest this has been one of my favorite classes!  I absolutely have loved learning all the ways that students can not only collaborate with each other, but with their teachers as well.  I think that it's amazing that we have gotten to a point where each child can have their voice heard and can give input, even if they are the shy, quiet students.  Using websites such as Flip Grid and Voice Thread help to enable this.  By using these two sites weekly with my peers, I have seen how students can learn from one another on these platforms.

Everything Google related has been fun to learn.  I have already started using and incorporating the different extensions and apps in my everyday life!  Just before I wrote this we looked at Google Keep.  I don't know if others in my class got excited about learning about this app, but as a busy mom who runs a household and manages multiple lives, I feel like it has been life changing to learn!  I love how everything is connected and in one spot.  It has been so easy to work on stuff at home, tuck it away in my drive and be able to continue my work at Starbucks or on my phone while waiting for my kids to get out of school.

I have not only grown professionally by learning all these new and exciting ways to physically use technology but also by growing my PLN on Twitter!  It is absolutely amazing the network of interactive, inspiring and motivating educators that I can gain knowledge and insight from everyday as a preservice educator.

Fortunately, my professor has been amazing and has easily walked us through everything we now know.  Not only that, but she has given examples of how each thing we were learning is used in her classroom or could be used in the classroom.  I can't wait to be able to use this fun technology in my classroom, and excited to see all the various, new apps and sites that will be rolled out once I enter the education field!

Those Who Inspire

Through my college experience, I have been given the same writing prompt four times now, asking me to write about the teacher I had growing up that inspired me to become a teacher as well.  Each of the four times I wrote about the same high school teacher I had. While this essay has been a great opportunity to reflect and set the baseline for my own standards as a future educator, what has been more influential on my personal and professional growth is the educators that I am currently surrounded with. They have been such an inspiration that I have risen the bar on my self tenfold (at least). I have been able to mold how I want to be as a teacher by the example that others have set.

One of my best girlfriends is a high school teacher and has been not only a huge supporter of mine since I started school but also a wonderful mentor! Besides teaching math and computer sciences, her experience also includes running a freshman mentoring program and being a dean.  In my first Intro to Education class I had to interview a teacher, and since I was taking the course over the summer she happily obliged to be my subject. She gave me such valuable information that was almost the opposite of everything I had known about teaching at the time. Since then she has really opened my eyes about topics such as common core math and standards-based grading. My experience, knowledge, and opinion of such topics at that time had been limited to what I heard in the mom community, so to hear from an educator the pros and cons to these, as well as the implication on student's learning had been so beneficial. One of the greatest ways she has helped me was to really help me see how amazing, talented and hardworking the majority of our youth is. Not that I had really doubted this, but when you constantly hear the negatives of this 'millennial generation' and the current social media challenges that are taking place (for example the Tide pod challenge) its easy to get sucked up in the biased viewpoints and not realize that this negative spotlight is only highlighting a small population.

My daughter is an eighth grader and cheerleader.  I have seen her cheerleading coach dedicate nine months of her life to her team- including summer practices, practices five days a week after school, weekend competitions, multiple basketball games each week and overnight state trips. (On top of her full time teaching job!) She has led them to be one of the top teams in the state and has provided so many experiences that many junior high girls will never have. She has not only taught the girls the skills required to be a good cheerleader, but she has shown them what hard work, dedication, and teamwork looks like. Over the past two years, my daughter has built her confidence, gained new friendships and a nice handful of medals and trophies. These are soft and indispensable life skills that without her coach's passion may not have been taught.

Besides these wonderful women have been all the phenomenal educators that I have met and gotten to know through my children's schools (which I talked about more here). I have seen firsthand the educators (many of whom have their own families at home) giving up their extra time once the school day is over to run clubs and activities, tutor, and coach sports teams. They are the ones who show up at 7:30 am to give band instruction and stay later in the evening for chorus practices.  They spend their Thursday nights scooping ice cream at PTO events, Friday nights running junior high activity nights, Saturdays volunteering at community events held at their school and Sundays attending cub scout banquets to watch their students move up in rank. The educators who know that school isn't just for academics but experiences, character development and the second home to many students who need it. The ones who make connections with their students, take an interest in them and be proud of all their accomplishments still years after they have left their classroom.  I have seen the teachers who respond to my emails at 9pm and the ones who only speak positively of their students. The teachers who don't give up on the challenging students and the ones who are absolutely exhausted by their special needs students but still show them the compassion and love they deserve.

So while I have written multiple times about the one teacher that inspired me in high school, it has been all these other wonderful educators that I have had the pleasure to know that have kept me inspired and have helped with my own growth. They are the ones who are the epitome of what a teacher looks like and have made me confident that I am entering the right career. I am appreciative not only for how they have helped my own development but how they continuously, day in and day out, make an impact on the lives of their students.  They go unrecognized and unappreciated for all their hard work but every day they give their students their very best.

The Power of Social Media

This week for class we were told to notice one thing on social media and share the story it told and the impact that it made.  Maybe I was looking a little too hard to find just one thing, that perfect thing that stuck out, because I didn't find just one thing.  I found numerous posts, articles and contributions to a shared narrative.  I have deliberately chosen to make it so that my social media accounts are flooded with positivity, inspiration, motivation and learning opportunities to help my own personal and professional growth. 

I had trouble finding just one thing to share because I find the majority of what I see on my accounts (Instagram and Twitter) to be meaningful.  Twitter is primarily my personal learning network of teachers, administrators, school districts and relevant educational resources.  As I am just in the beginning of my journey to becoming an educator, I have found so much relevant and useful information on this platform!  I also have been thrilled to find so many others in the field that seem to share the enthusiastic and passionate attitude towards not just teaching but also to our children.  One of the greatest take-aways I have gotten on Twitter recently is all the ways classrooms use Flip Grid!  I have really enjoyed seeing this tool, that I just recently learned about, used in a various number of ways in schools and the excited students who are partaking in the activities.

I have dedicated my Instagram account to positive and inspirational quotes, fitness personnel, my favorite bands and a handful of friends.  I like to see all the good that life has to offer, and as naive as it is, block out all the negativity.  I choose to keep myself surrounded with those who will lift me and inspire me, keep me motivated and chasing my goals and dreams in life.  My sister in law recently passed away after a quick and aggressive cancer battle, leaving behind her husband and four young boys.  Beyond the pain of the loss of her passing, it left me feeling so grateful and fortunate that I still get to be here while realizing how precious life is.  I have been intentionally trying to share one positive quote in my story every day that not only helps to keep me grounded but in hopes that it helps somebody else who needs it.

As silly as it may sound, to be intentional about the content I surround myself with has been almost life changing!  This is why I struggled to really find just one thing to share this week!



 

Flipped Learning

My own personal learning style and preference really just depends on the class and the material that I am studying.  I cannot just sit and read a text book, so in this context audio learning is where I really benefit.  I'm also a visual and kinesthetic learner, especially when it comes to anything science related!  Just reading about processes seems foreign to me, I have to see it taking place in real world context!  I am curious and excited to learn about flipped learning and see how it works in the classroom.  If you aren't familiar with flipped learning, it is where the teacher assigns a video or an article for the students to watch or read at home.  The next day in the classroom, the students discuss what they have learned at home the previous night and do activities or work with this topic.  So rather than doing a lesson in school and corresponding homework at home, this is where the learning is literally flipped.

While I currently have no experience with flipped learning, I think that it is something I would both enjoy and see benefit in.  I like the idea of going back and watching a lecture or rewinding back if I missed something or just need to hear the information again. Given the learning styles that work best for me, given a video to watch instead of text to read or a worksheet to complete seems appealing as well.   We already know that kids spend a lot of time watching tv or on youtube, so I would think that they would be more likely to watch a video or lecture instead of doing traditional homework assignments.  Flipped learning is something that I think I would love to incorporate into my own classroom!

As with anything, there are a few cons to flipped learning.  First of all, we already know that kids don't like doing homework, and those who struggle in school are usually the ones who consistently have missing work from failure of doing it.  For these students, they probably will not watch the video and will be unprepared for the day's assignment.  This will contribute to inefficient use of classroom time for them and the risk of falling further behind.

Then I'm thinking about the kids who are less fortunate and may not have the internet at home or a device to watch the video.  Although most of us have smartphones, if parents aren't valuing education then there is probably a greater chance that these students will not be prepared for class.  While it's easy to ask them to go to the local library or coffee shop, this isn't always practical, and again may require parent support that isn't there.

Lastly,  I have to wonder how this will affect children with learning disabilities.  Although it is just watching a video, will they fully grasp the information that is being given to them and be able to complete classwork?  I'm sure that the many schools that are using this learning method have accommodations and plans in place, but I would be interested in finding out more about how this affects those students.

School Report Cards

Every year the Illinois State Board of Education provides a school report card for every single school in the state.  The public can find a ton of data on the report cards; the demographic breakdown, the number of days school was in session, class sizes, student to teacher ratios, revenue sources, average teacher salary, and academic performance.  Overall, if you were interested in any of this information, this is the perfect resource and it's easy to find!

However, my problem with it is that this often is the way that schools are judged if they are 'good' or not.  While it's easy to look on a piece of paper and see that test scores are slightly below the state average, you really are only getting a glimpse of the whole story.  I know people who have reviewed these report cards in deciding between public school and private school or where they should move to, and labeled a school as 'bad' because the numbers seem as if they reflect this.  But where the problem lays is that this is absolutely not an indicator of how every child performs or will perform.  What you don't see on the report card is what is really happening both inside and outside of the classroom.  You don't see all the growth and progress each individual student is making, you don't see the school culture and whether or not there are good teachers or bad teachers in the classroom.  You don't see the teachers spending their weekends working on lesson plans and grading assignments, nor do you see them in the classroom from before the sun rises til after is sets on this report card.

There is so much data that shows both how parental involvement and social-economic levels affect children's learning yet this isn't reflected in a school's report card.  The way a school fosters student social-emotional development isn't reflected.  The number of clubs and extra-curricular activities that are offered to students isn't shown on here.  Nor is how progressive and technologically competitive a school is.  The report card doesn't show how passionate the administrators are, how they know almost every single student's name (seriously in a school of over 600), will quickly respond to parent's emails no matter the time of day and will sit on the office floor to help console and calm a student who is having a meltdown.  It's not going to tell you if the students are happy and thriving and being motivated and pushed to meet their full potential.  It doesn't show you what opportunities the school provides that others don't.

My own personal experience with a school that looks like it doesn't perform as highly as it could is that I have an eighth-grade daughter who has had a ton of success during her academic career.  She is currently in honors classes and has been accepted to all honors in high school next year.  She cheers for her junior high's cheerleading squad and they are one of the top teams in the state.  The sports teams are always at the top of their division and as I am typing this the basketball team is preparing for their first playoff game, after being undefeated this season.  My daughter has had some of the most wonderful, compassionate, hard-working teachers you will ever meet, and the administrators constantly blow me away with how involved and caring they are with all the students.  Our district is a one-on-one district, with each student in K-2 having iPads and 3-8 having Chromebooks.  We have active parent groups that provide events and financial support to the schools to help with technology, supplies, assemblies and anything else that is needed.  My son, who is in first grade, is in a two-way immersion Spanish program that is unique to the area.  By the time he enters high school, he should be bilingual and bi-literate.  Our library is fully stocked, our physical education teachers teach CrossFit and have an equipment closet that many schools can only dream of and there's never a shortage of balls, chalk and jump ropes on the playground at recess.  Both my kids are extremely comfortable in their environments, have many friends and fully trust that they could turn to their teachers if they ever needed anything.  I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.

So my advice to everyone is that you simply can't judge a school by a piece of paper.  You can't disregard all the hard work by the teachers and students alike.  Yes, academic success is without a doubt important, however, so are all the other ways of developing the whole child.

Here is the link for the school my son attends and I sub at:
Stony Creek Elementary School's State Report Card 2017-2018

Tech in the Classroom

I think it's crucial for students to be introduced to technology in the classroom.  As technology is increasingly changing so is the workplace.  If we want to set up our students for success in the future then they need to stay current on 21st-century trends.  Not only this, but just introducing children to this technology in the classroom will help them to discover potential interests and give them a basic understanding.  Children are introduced to typing skills, how to effectively search and find information and coding.   Even careers that aren't necessarily in the S.T.E.A.M. fields require at least a basic understanding of how to use computers and various apps.  I also think that the use of technology in our classrooms is getting students more interested in learning.  There are tons of fun, educational games and apps that many classrooms are using and children are not only having fun while learning, but they are more enthusiastic about learning.  Also, through the use of platforms such as Google Classroom, students are not only engaging more with one another, but also with their teachers.  With the use of internet and apps like Google Expeditions, children are able to discover and learn more than they ever have in the past!  Apps like Epic! and Tumble Books put libraries of books at a child's fingertips.  

While there are so many pros to including technology in the classroom, there are downsides. There is no denying that we are seeing the amount of children with ADHD at an all-time high.  Much of children's downtime is spent on video games, YouTube and television, and adding in extra screen time during the school day contributes to the problem.  I'm no expert in the effects screens have on our brains, but I recently attended a seminar with an occupational therapist who went into depths about how this 'one-way' input is actually rewiring not just children's brains but adults' alike.  Increased technology use by the means of computers and iPads also is affecting student's fine motor development and skills, as they are gripping and using writing utensils less.  While I personally love the exposure to 21st-century skills our youth is receiving, there definitely needs to be a healthy balance.