Stepping Through the Looking Glass and Into the Digital Age

I read the article titled, " 15 Characteristics of a 21st-Century Teacher ." This article was insightful on what qualities teachers that teach in the 21st century should start taking on whether they have already or not. I completely agree with all of the suggested qualities and feel that I have began the process of implementing some of them within my teacher experience as well. As I have read in this article, previous courses, and through personal professional developments, a student-centered approach to learning that includes collaboration and creativity through project-based learning is central to 21st century learning structures. This is definitely something that I agree with. Learning should be student-centered because learners are so different in regards to skill levels and interests and access to massive amounts of resources and information is at our student's fingertips; it would be a shame to see those resources that lead to engaging opportunities for our stu...

Image Source: https://cdn.thinglink.me/api/image/413467334112444418/1024/10/scaletowidth The SAMR model framework is something that I have learned a little bit about in the past, but wanted to spend some more time exploring it so that the concepts could be solidified. From my research, I have learned that the SAMR model is comprised of 4-levels that provide teachers with a guide to help them make effective use of technology in their instruction. The four levels include substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition. As you move through these levels in the order mentioned previously, technology moves away from just enhancing a lesson and towards completely transforming instruction. This website link that Nicole shared with us helps to explain in more detail what the 4-levels of the SAMR model are. According the the SAMR ladder image posted at the top of this blog post, substitution refers to situations in which technology acts as a direct tool substitute with no fun...

I began my data mine by conducting a simple Google search on myself. I typed my first and last name in between quotation marks for a more accurate search. I was not very surprised with what I found because I have actually googled myself many times before, just because I was curious what I would find. I don't have anything to hide, I just wanted to know what was out there. About ten pages pop up when my name is searched through Google. As I have discovered in the past, the links that pop up mostly connect to articles that mentioned my name in them from high school sporting events. I was a varsity diver, gymnast, and pole vaulter, and I remember newspapers interviewing me at meets and having pictures or articles in the paper about my performances, so I was never shocked to see some of those appear on a Google search. Some other links that pop up in the Google search are links that connect to apps that I currently use or have used in the past, such as "Happier", ...

I read the article, "A Teenager's View on Social Media" because I was curious to see what teens would say on the topic. I am 26 years old myself, still not too far out of my teenage years, so I felt like I would possibly be able to relate to some of the points made in this article. Some things that I have "heard through the grapevine" before reading this article are that teens don't really like or use Facebook and Instagram is the social media application that they seem to flock to more now. This point was addressed in the article, so I now know that the rumors are true. I never understood the reasons why, though. When I was a teenager, Facebook was created and was really one of the first forms of social media to take flight in popularity, well other than MySpace, which I never had an account with. In my high school years, Facebook was "all the rage" and everyone had an account, and you had to be friends with everyone. In fact, just recent...

This week, I chose to explore the topic of the makerspace movement. Makerspace is another one of those education buzzwords that I have been hearing for a few years, but haven't had the chance to explore the movement further. This was the perfect opportunity to do so. Before looking into the topic of makerspaces by reviewing the sources that Nicole provided as well as researching independently, my understanding of makerspaces consisted of the fact that the movement was all about students using creativity and collaboration to produce a functioning creation of some sort or complete a certain task. I was unsure of what the true purpose of makerspaces were, though, other than allowing children the opportunity to participate in hands-on learning experiences. This video link is a great introduction to what makerspace is. While exploring the topic, a concept that seemed to be emphasized in terms of the purpose of the movement is that makerspace is designed in order to teacher studen...

It was exciting to be able to choose your own learning path, or "adventure" this week. Since Nicole mentioned that she is well versed in the topic of media literacy and has done many presentations on the topic, I was intrigued to look into the topic further. The word, "media literacy" sounded familiar, but as I went through the sources I was refreshed on what is meant by media literacy. If you need a refresher too, click on this link ! From this source, I was reminded of the definition of media literacy. The source states that, "Media literacy is our interaction with media and the message(s) that we take from it, as well as our ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media messages." From my understanding from the sources that I viewed, media literacy is teaching students, as well as adults, about the purpose of media. As stated in another source by Nicole, "The purpose of mass media is not to educate, inform, or entertain, it's p...

I reviewed the Project Tomorrow Speak Up 2016 infographic. The Speak Up Research Project for Digital Learning asks K-12 students, parents, and educators about the role of technology for learning in and out of school. You can find out more about the Speak Up project in general by viewing this website . The infographic in which I am focusing this blog post on compares responses of teachers in their first year of teaching to teachers with elevan or more years of experience on the topics of how technology is used within their classes. You can view the infographic by clicking on this link . (http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/speak-up-2016-first-year-in-the-classroom-april-2017.html) When viewing the first section of this infographic as shown in the image above, I was surprised at the fact that when responding to prompts such as, "Use digital games with my students," "Customize digital content that I find online to meet my class needs," and "Create investigatio...

screenshot of Danielle Goebbert's internet mapping project When setting up my internet mapping chart, I created four sections for personal, professional, visitor, and resident. From my understanding, the visitor end of the map represented internet sources that are not often used, while the resident end represented internet sources that are used frequently. The professional end of the map represented internet sources used throughout my professional life, while the personal end represented internet sources that used primarily for my personal pleasure. When beginning this assignment, I copied Nicole's strategy of writing out a list of internet websites and applications that I use in my personal and professional life. When I couldn't think about any more, I looked at my phone for any that I missed. I then took this list of internet sources and applications and placed them where I believe they fall on the four-sectioned map that I created. Here are a few of the icons tha...

This past Thursday, I participated in my first ever Twitter chat. If anyone has worked with me in previous courses, you know that I am not a fan of Twitter. It appears too overwhelming to me visually and it is hard for me to get used to in terms of what to use it for. I honestly, do not understand the hype of the app by its users and followers at all. Therefore, prior to this week's Twitter chat, it appear obvious that I felt more than apprehensive of having to participate. I had never heard what a Twitter chat was and had no clue how it worked or what to do. I tried to do some research to prepare myself for the functionality of the Twitter chat ahead of time, but everything sounded like gibberish to me since Twitter is a confusing social media platform for me anyways. For this experience, I chose to participate in the #ICEILChat on Thursday night at 8:00pm. As I logged on the night of the Twitter chat, I introduced myself while also explaining that I was a first timer when...

The article that I chose to read for this blog post was written by Dayna Laur and Jill Ackers and titled, "Developing Natural Curiosity". You can click on this link to view the article. This article discussed the importance of embedding 21st century skills into authentic learning experiences that educators design as well as what these types of experiences should include in order to pique the natural curiosity of young students. This article's purpose connects directly to the 4C's concept we are discussing in our course as quoted by the authors, "at early ages, children’s curiosity and intrinsic motivation make them highly receptive to experiences that build creative, collaborative, critical thinking, and communication skills.” The article discusses how this link between intrinsic motivation and a learner's natural curiosity, when paired with good design strategies can, "propel the development of the problem-solvers we are all striving to foster in o...

Discussion of Padlet Activity: The padlet that I created can be viewed in the image above or accessed through this link . The blog that I accessed for this padlet was designed for a classroom of students to communicate with a peer who was off on a "new adventure". This new adventure was a movie that he was hired to act in. The students posted their comments, reactions, and questions for their peer who was enjoying his new experience as an actor in a film. When the acting student had a moment, he posted his responses and pictures of his experience on and off set for his classmates to see. This blog is an example of active learning because the students are leading and interacting discussion with other peers, the teacher facilitates conversations among students, and the discussions are relevant and engaging for students. They are learning about real world experiences while practicing their writing and questioning skills. Through this blog, students were able to learn ab...

Teaching: As I entered my professional career of teaching in the Fall of 2013, it was very competitive to find a job right away. Therefore, I began the year as a paraprofessional at Erickson Elementary School in Bloomingdale. All of the paraprofessionals were licensed educators that had not yet found a job, so the school was good about encouraging us to continue applying for full-time teaching positions. During my first few weeks working as a paraprofessional, I had a a few interviews for various districts and finally landed my own full-time teaching job at Gilberts Elementary School teaching 3rd grade (the grade that I hoped to be able to teach)! My beginning was quite unique for a few reasons. First of all, I got the call that I was officially hired on the morning of Friday, August 30, so I finished up my day as a paraprofessional and left as soon as I could to visit my new school and meet with my principal and team to figure out what needed to get done before I started. I the...