Blogs a teachers best friend

           Ok, I admit it, I am a blogging addict.  Next to Pinterest, I love to read others' blogs.  When you are a blog addict it is easy to lose yourself for hours and end up far from your original link.  Blogs are a powerful way to link to other people that are doing the same thing as you.  In my personal life, I link with other mothers, crafters, gardeners and quilters.  In my future professional life, I see how I can benefit from reaching out to other educators and teachers that teach at the elementary level.  Why spend hours re-inventing the wheel if someone else had the work already done or great hints on how to engage your students in the curriculum.  I love the world of teaching because teachers love to help and share ideas that work in the classroom.

            There is a lot of buzz in the blog world about student driven teaching.  There is a shift in the old way of direct teaching and teachers are really talking about ways to capture their student’s attention and have them invested in their own learning.  I know, here in Alberta, there is a push for change as well as working toward Inspiring Education, which will help us prepare our students for the ever changing world and the challenges they will face.  I am excited to be coming into education during this time of change.  Alberta isn’t the only one that is facing these changes; the blogs I read took me all over the United States, different Canadian provinces and even to the United Kingdom.  All are talking about this change and many are focusing on engagement of students as well as technology. 

            Learning is messy blog focuses on technology and talks a lot about how schools are reluctant at times to adapt to new technology and use the resources that are available, ie, Wiki, Pinterest, twitter, Facebook, blogs.  There is a real fear for some schools to open up these available networks and allow teachers and students to use them.   Brian Crosby is the author of this blog and has been an upper elementary teacher for over 30 years.  He now facilitates STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and helps administrators realize the importance of using technology in their schools.  He is part of the high hopes project which is open to all teachers to participate in.  In April/May of this year, they will be sending weather balloons 30,000 feet into the air and streaming data and student experiments back to classrooms.  They want anyone who wants to participate to have their students write what is their ‘high hope’ for education.  Blogs like this are exciting to me because someone else is doing the work and putting the weather balloons in the air but my class could participate, observe and do projects based on the data they produce.  Blogs make the world a smaller place and accessible right here in Medicine Hat.

            It is so tough to narrow my focus to only three blogs.  I really enjoyed Michael Smiths The Principals page blog.  Each entry was short and sweet (I need to learn from this, I tend to be long winded), and humorous.  He tackles real issues such as bullying and how he is finding it is an overused word.  Sometimes things just happen, life is unfair and things go wrong.  Often he finds, as the principal, that when unfair things happen the parents and students claim bullying but really it’s just life. Sometimes things aren’t fair.  He also spoke of the fact that we over worry both as parents and educators.  We need to sometimes just sit back and let things happen.  I really like his view point and enjoyed each of his posts that I read. 

            The flipped classroom blog was also very interesting.  I watched several of the videos they had prepared for teaching what a flipped classroom is.  I have to go back to this website as I still have many questions about what this classroom would look like.  I found it really interesting and there are a lot of people talking about the benefits of flipping your classroom.  A flipped classroom is where you do the lectures and lessons at home and then come to class to do your homework or the actual engagement of the subject.  As with anything this new and radical, there are lots of concerns and they address these very well with a series of short video clips.  If you are involved in education in any way, I recommend giving this blog a read.

            I have found so much information in my readings of the suggested blogs in the last few days my mind is swimming with more questions.  Each blog is hosted by educators and they are looking at how to improve their craft and help their students.  The desire is to have emotionally intelligent students and move away from standardized testing.  Many also deal with the struggle of finding credible information in using technology and how to we educate our students to be great digital citizens.  There is a concern about the lack of free play and studies show that it is leading to depression in our young students. 

            Cool Cat Teacher (Vicki Davis) is a great teacher blog.  One thing I noticed about this site as well as many of the blogs is all the advertisements.  The adverts are a big distraction and I found some of the blogs, especially the really popular ones, more difficult to navigate because of all the promotional adverts.  Cool Cat blog talked about close reading and explored activities that you can do with your students.  It is a program that is promoted by snap learning and you can buy worksheets from them that your students can actually mark up and practice close learning with.  It is handy because, of course, we don’t want our students writing in their textbooks; especially here in Canada as they aren’t personally owned; they are re-used.  Again, I don’t like the number of product promotions I see but this is the reality of being a popular blogger today.

            Cool cat blog talked about how we are the lead learner as the teacher and we set the tone and level of excitement in our classroom.  So we need to step it up, set goals and try something new this week.  If we are excited as the lead learner our students will be too!  I really liked her post about classroom authors and how we can create books collaboratively with students from all over the world.  Also, I loved her suggestion for thinglink which makes pictures interactive and cardkiwi which allows students to make their own flash cards!  She uses technology and apps to inspire teachers to think differently and get excited about their lessons.  I was so inspired to read her many suggestions and could lose myself for hours in this website. 

            I am just beginning my discovery of education blogs and already feel like I have learned so much from my fellow bloggers.  I encourage all educators to get blogging!  It’s a fun and easy way to stay linked to other educators and start dabbling in new ideas and technology!

            

Technology- where are we headed?

        Technology is something that I have a love hate relationship with.  I love all that it can do and when it works I am thrilled.  I hate that it often causes me frustration because it doesn't work when I want it to work.  I am only a few weeks into my technology in the classroom course and my feelings toward technology are already changing.  The more I learn about all technology can do to aid the teacher in the classroom, the more excited I get to start implementing it.  It seems that often the initial output is a lot of work, such as making digital lesson plans in smart notebook, yet once done they can be used and reused with greater efficiency. 

Wordle of my personal view of technology

            In Education, technology can be a huge asset in the classroom.  With the click of a mouse a teacher can reach out to thousands of other educators for ideas, support, experiments and hints for the classroom.  Simple things from art lessons, lesson ideas, curriculum helps to how to deal with parents and administration all can be a huge help to me as a teacher.  Also for the students there are hundreds of websites, pictures and videos that can engage them and enrich their learning.  Students are familiar with technology and it is a huge part of their home life, so teaching them using what they already know is a powerful tool in the classroom.     As a future educator, it excites me to see all that is available to help me be the best teacher I can be.  Technology is an excellent way for both students and teachers to learn from what thousands of others have learned or are learning and build from existing knowledge. 

            I love blogging and reading blogs.  I have been reading and publishing a blog since 2009.  I started blogging as a way for me to journal my and my family's journey through life.  I then publish the books so that we have all our memories for a keepsake.  I have a large group of friends that also blog so it is a wonderful way for me to keep up with them and their families.  I have always used blogs for crafting, gardening and quilting ideas.  Blogs have enriched my personal life and given me a voice to share and capture priceless moments.  As a teacher, I can see that a blog will be a great way to share ideas about things that work in my classroom , projects and pictures to help give back to the education community.  I am sure that I will use a blog in my class when I am a teacher and share what we are doing with parents, administration and fellow educators. 

            One concern about technology in the classroom is the lack of funding to get proper, updated technology.  Often, in the public school system, we are running with old computers, software and few personal devices such as tablets.  This is a problem that can be met by allowing students to use their own devices.  The article tech- briefing; BYOD discusses both the benefits of students bringing their own devices and the concerns that teachers have. 

            On the plus side, students know their own devices so there is not a learning curve for them to figure out the device they are to use.  On the flip side, teachers are going to have to be well versed on many different systems so that they can help the students and give proper instructions on steps they need to take.  I know that in my experience in schools often children, even at a young age, have the most modern technology being used.  I am constantly surprised by how many children in grade one have iPads and iPhones and know how to use them better than me.  School systems usually do not have the funding to keep on the cutting edge of technology, so by using student’s devices, schools can have access to modern devices.

 After reading the article BYOD, I have to wonder about families that are not tech savvy, can’t afford to buy their children the required device or are using old technology.  Schools do not want to encourage an even wider gap between students of different economic standing, so can equality be assured?  Also, schools have to consider if all 500 students bring their own devices to class, how will they handle the increased network traffic?  Schools have to ensure sufficient capacity and bandwidth to support the devices being used.  When using technology, faster access is demanded.  Nothing is more frustrating than waiting forever for a website to load with a slow internet connection. 

Another benefit of using student’s devices is that instead of spending money on hardware, administration can instead spend it on software and high end tech programs that are not found on most devices. Every student with an iPad and cell phone could create a huge distraction to the classroom without policies and rules about their use.  There will have to be policies in place to ensure that teachers still have control over the use of their personal devices, what can be used and what should be avoided.  Money will also need to be put aside for teacher PD.  Teachers need to feel prepared for this shift in their classroom and be trained well in available technology.  Not all teachers are tech savvy and many will have fears and frustrations toward allowing personal devices in the classroom, so training is vital for this to work.

With increased technology use in the classroom and students using the internet there is also a concern for their safety.  The internet is full of amazing websites but it is also filled with pornography, inappropriate sites, social media which can lead to cyber bulling, identity theft and creepy people.  All of these things are a factor in why schools ban personal devices, block websites and have strict control of content available.   In the article tech-briefing – digital citizenship these concerns are addressed.  Digital citizenship is about teaching students respect for themselves and personal responsibility.  Yes, at home and at school we can shelter our children from the big bad internet by blocking any questionable sites, but the concern is whether our children have learned from this or once they are somewhere without blocks, will they seek it out because they haven’t been properly taught?

Inspire Education is where the future of our teaching and curriculum is headed.  The goal of Inspiring Education is to help students become ethical citizens and engaged thinkers.  We need to consider that instead of blocking these websites and not allowing students access to their personal devices we as educators need to do just that, educate!  We need to teach students about the dangers that are found on the internet, empower each student to respect themselves and to use technology responsibly.  As a parent, I agree and disagree with this concept.  I agree that children need to be taught about technology and the dangers there are in using it.  I think personal responsibility is key to helping each child to respect themselves.  Yet for myself, there is a big BUT here.  Where is the line?  My daughter had many friends that would watch R rated movies at a young age, play video games that were mature and had parents that didn't think the same way as me and allowed their children to do things I would never allow my daughter to do.  Some look at pornography as not harmful or think violence is okay.  The rules in my own home regarding the use of technology were much stricter than others.  I still feel I taught my daughter to respect herself and to be responsible but as a child, it was also my responsibility to monitor what sites she used, to check text messages often and to make sure the cell phone and iPad were not in her room late at night.  

In my opinion, in order for this to work as far as BYOD and digital citizenship, rules and policies need to be firmly in place and all teachers and administrators need to be on the same page.  I agree that teaching students respect and responsibility is of utmost importance but I am leery about free and open access to all websites.  I also wonder about conflict over their personal device.  I am sure when it isn’t being used correctly and teachers need to step in and take away the device for a time, the issue of it being their personal property will be brought up, often, by both students and parents.  I am shocked now by what parents allow in their homes.  Many times I have had kindergarten children tell me about a movie they watched over the weekend that I would never watch myself because of its content and parents let a 5 year old watch it!  Also, video games played or talk of zombies and killing games is shocking.

 The future of technology and access in the classroom may force teachers to walk on a tight rope, balancing precariously as we try teach them what is good content and content they should avoid and parents may not have the same belief.  The speed that technology is changing will make it so that teachers will have to be constantly educating themselves so they are on the cutting edge and aware of the newest program or device.  This will be more work but I believe that technology as a whole, despite some of my personal concerns, will be a huge benefit to my future classroom and the students learning.  As new policies are made and things like BYOD introduced, there will be growing pains as sometimes change is difficult and stretches us in uncomfortable ways.  In the end, I am excited for the digital possibilities and what will come in my teaching career!

About Me

          It has been a lifelong dream of mine to be a teacher.  In 1994, I moved to Medicine Hat and started taking courses at the college.  Then I met a wonderful young man that swept me off my feet and we got married. We had our beautiful daughter just over a year after we were married.  My husband was going to school so I supported him and stayed home to raise our family.  Once I started as an Educational Assistant in the school system I fell in love with the thought of teaching again.  I am a cancer survivor and as such I am driven to fulfill that dream now despite being older than many of my fellow students. 

            I live on a small hobby farm just outside of Medicine Hat.  We have lots of different animals that I absolutely love!  I plan on bringing in lots of animal babies throughout the years to visit the classroom.  As a family we love to quad and spend hours on our farm and in the mountains enjoying our time together.  I am passionate about gardening and in the summer find myself in my large garden daily fighting off weeds.  I love music; I sing, play the piano and am currently learning to play the ukulele.  I am also an avid reader thanks to my grade six school teacher who opened the magical world of books to me.

            The thing that makes me the happiest is spending time with my family and friends.  I am passionate about life and think that it should be filled with laughter and love.  I love to travel.  I lived in England for two years as a missionary for my church.  We have traveled all over every summer jumping in our motor home and driving all over Canada and the United States.  My husband is an instructor at the college so he gets several months off in the summer time.

            I know that I will be an enthusiastic, loving and dedicated teacher.  I have many years of experience teaching and working with children and youth and have loved each teaching experience.

My personal philosophy on teaching

              The most important aspect for me as a teacher is for each of my students to know that I care for them.  It is important to know each student personally including their background, their emotional and academic needs.  Once I know them and what they need in order to succeed in the classroom, I hope to vary my methods of teaching using the multiple intelligences.  I know through laughter, fun, interactive lessons and a warm, loving environment each student will thrive.

              I do not believe that a student is a ‘tabla rasa’(empty vessel), that information is to be poured into.  I agree with the philosophy of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky that students need to be actively learning and constructing meaning to lessons by building on what they already know.  Social interaction and active students in the classroom are vital to learning.  In the future, I hope to provide a classroom that is interactive using tables for working and white board paint on the walls for students to have group discussions and opportunities to teach each other.  I would like my classroom to be like a home which will provide a safe environment with comfy seating, indirect lighting and living things such as plants and a class pet.  In order for learning to be facilitated, mutual respect for all members is needed and no one should have a fear of being criticized in the classroom.  It should be a safe place to make mistakes as that is often how we learn.

              I am an advocate of character education in the school.  I believe, as a teacher, it is my job to be a role model both inside and outside the classroom.  It has been my experience that many opportunities arise daily to help students recognize unwanted behavior or teach better communication skills.  I understand that each person needs to prepare themselves to build up the society in which we live.

              I do not believe that to be an effective teacher I need to stand at the front of the room and lecture daily.  I believe that many truths can be discovered as students share and interact with each other.  It is my job as an educator to be organized, have well thought out lesson plans, keep up my own personal care, continue my person education, learn from fellow teachers and reflect on my day.  I personally believe that reflection is the key to becoming better.  It is a practice I use in my daily life as I ponder over my day each evening, thinking about what went well and what can be improved.  In continuing this practice I will be able to continue to direct my classroom and meet the needs of each student by trying to grow each day.  I believe that each student, myself included, needs to set goals and work towards stretching to become a better learner.