week 1
Knowing I would have to take this course made me nervous initially because I am not used to navigating sites on the internet that I am not already familiar with. This being said, I am happy this course is required, as I know we live in a high tech world, and being able to create a website, and blog is a crucial part of being a teacher. At first, this free inquiry project was overwhelming and somewhat difficult for me to figure out, but after clicking a bunch of random buttons and seeing what I could do, I think this will be a very interesting journey. I am excited to learn more about how to blog and use online resources to build relationships and stay connected to other professionals in the same field. I am looking forward to what is out there for me to learn!
week 2
Our last class was super helpful for my online blogging skills. we were given so many wonderful resources to explore including multiple great sites with free, accessable videos and photos (some of which I added to my website.) I was so unaware of all the ways students can learn for free online from smart, willing people who post their work simply for others to enjoy and benefit from! I was also shocked that so many university textbooks and alternate ways of gaining the same information can be found online for free, I couldve saved thousands by now!
Last class we also discussed the film “Most Likely to Succeed”. I thought this movie was really well made and displayed a school and way of teaching unlike any I had previously heard of. I think basing grades off of inquiry projects, which students are genuinly interrested in, as opposed to tests is a great way of developping bright and innovative students. It is true that perhaps students coming out of “High Tech High” will not be as qualified to enter universities as they haven’t built the same foundation as others, but they will also emerge much more creative, and likely to start their own businesses or come up with new inventions and ways of looking at the world. If the opportunity was presented to me, I think I wouldve loved to have been exposed to this type of teaching early on!
week 3
This week’s class was super interesting as we had a guest speaker (Jesse Miller) who touched on a lot of interesting topics such as how to appropriately manage social media accounts when you are a professional teacher, the importance/ nuisances of cellphones in the classroom, digital consent, and more.
He mentioned how it is extremely important to follow teacher guidelines regarding social media, as many teachers have been fired in the past due to something their bosses, coworkers, students, or parents have seen online. He made a great suggestion to make a google search of our own names, to see what pops up, as all potential teacher hire’s social media will be looked into before they receive the job. When I searched my own name I was happy to find that nothing “job ruining/ preventing” came up lol. It was mainly pictures of “Perler Beads” and a couple profiles I had made. There was also an old social media from when I was about 12 which I plan on figuring out how to delete off the web!! (Just because it’s embarrassing).
It was great having the Q&A with Jesse at the end of his presentation as many of my colleagues asked very great questions (regarding cell phone use in the classroom, how to integrate social media into schools in a positive way etc.) that I would not personally have thought to ask!
It is super important I believe to have a good understanding of social media when becoming a teacher, as it is such a big part of our world now. We will be a part of that world whether we like it or not so it will be extremely beneficial to know how to use it correctly and in a professional manner.
week 4
I found this week’s class super interesting and really helpful. Michael talked about Trello, a website that supports free inquiry and could be great for students to do collaborative projects on, or simply a great way to organize your life!
We talked a bit about how technology is a big part of life now and it is important that we learn to incorporate this in a good way into our classrooms. This was interesting for me because I thought back to when I was in elementary and even high school and didn’t really learn about online resources that were available to me, although we were still being asked to complete things online like video projects, PowerPoint presentations, bibliographies, etc. I was shocked by today’s class when Michael went over all the different functions of editing a picture on Powerpoint. There were really so many more functions that I was aware of, that could make my work so much more interesting! I was inspired to go onto Powerpoint and explore these many options; unfortunately, I found out my PowerPoint needs to be updated because it looks quite different, or maybe it is just the computer I’m using. Either way, I am going to figure it out!
I wish my teachers would’ve incorporated more lessons or instruction on what sites were available on the internet, how to use them, and how to make your work the best it could possibly be! But better late than never to learn! 🙂