Social Media...

This week I learned a few things about Twitter I didn’t know. I learned about twitter chats by watching one live. I learned that their are different twitter chats for thing such as education, business, technology, medicine, sports, and many other things. Watching this Twitter chat was really interesting and I think I would participate in them in the future. They are a great way to gather information, resources, and inspiration. I also learned that you can create lists. These “lists” can be organized so that certain people can be viewed on your feed. For example, if I wanted to create a list of educators I could create one of those I have followed and then when I go to that list I can see only their tweets.

I decided to watch the #txeduchat. This chat was comprised of six questions and is hosted by @VealHeidi.The first thing for the educators to do was to introduce themselves. To do this they were to describe themselves in three words. Then they got started on their discussion about being an empowered teacher. The first question asked was to define empowered educator in your own words. Question two asked why teacher empowerment is critical to the success of your students. The next question asked, in what ways do empowered teachers and educators approach growth differently? The fourth question asked, how do school leaders go about equipping educators in a way that leads to authentic empowerment? Question five asked, what are the most invigorating things about being an empowered teacher or about empowering others? The last question asked, what are the best solutions to combat educators who resist empowerment and choose status quo? I think this topic was chosen to remind educators to be empowered educators and to instil empowerment onto their students and fellow educators.

A few tips I would give to a teacher new to social networking is to first become familiar with that social network. Then I would encourage the teacher to not be passive. I would encourage that teacher to not just read their posts, but to reflect and comment back. Commenting back can be a great way to reach out to other professionals and create new relationships. I would then recommend for the teacher to follow fellow educators, resources, top educators or roles models, and book authors.

When deciding who I would follow on twitter, I looked at the Twitter 101 for Teachers lists of people to follow. I followed @edudemic because this page talks about using technology to enhance learning. This way I can be updated on new technologies and using them in the classroom. I also followed @TED_ED because I love watching TED talks. I thought they would be a good twitter page to follow. They have some really fun articles to read. I then followed a couple of teachers. I followed @JulieDRamsay becuase I saw that she is an author and she strives for student-directed learning. I also followed @RobinDubiel because the she seems well connected with other educators and she shared great articles. In the past I have followed educators I have worked with as well. I follow Adam Nidey @Mrnidey, a teacher in waukee, he likes to tweet about things he is doing in the classroom. I enjoy his account because he uses a lot of technology in the classroom and creative thinking. I also follow a fellow co-worker, Kyle Coppola @cvtigersKA. I enjoy his twitter account because he often tweets about what he is doing in the classroom and tweets about his activities he does with the students.

Here is a full list of twitter accounts I followed

@edudemic

@TED_ED

@JulieDRamsay

@RobinDubiel

@Mrnidey

@cvtigersKA

@VealHeidi

@NYTimesLearning

@Newsela

@RWTnow

@SirKenRobinson

Tech Review #2

The tool I decided to review is the 3D printer. The 3D printer a new and exciting tool that has become widely used. The 3D printer was named the machine of the year by Time magazine because of the amazing products that have been made. Education has been attempting to use the 3D printer in the classroom by creating student friendly printers. In the CTLT at Iowa State University they have invested in two MakerBot printers for educators to use. To use the 3D printer you must design what you want to create first. To do this you could use Tinkercad (a free designing website) or a different designing website or program. I have used Tinkercad before and I liked using it because it was simple and students could easily use it. Once you have your design ready you must download it to the app MakerBot onto your computer. Once you save it onto a flash drive in the correct format, you can begin printing your design. The product will be made of “filament” which is kind of like a plastic material. To use this tool in the classroom requires a lot of work and technological knowledge. For this tool to be productive the school’s environment needs to be able to support the tool and the materials used. So in saying that, this tool is not necessarily easily accessible and useable for schools.

Substitution: One idea I had that the 3D printer could be used for is to allow students to print out an imaginary creature. For this lesson I would have students create a story or a comic. In this story, students would have to create a character. This character could be a simple human or a crazy creature they have thought of. Instead of having students draw their creature or create it from clay, the students could design their creature using Tinkercad and then 3D print their creatures. If supplies are not available to print a creature for every student I would make the writing a competition and whoever has the best story would get to print their creature. I could even do this once a month to engage students to be creating stories on their own.

Modification: Instead of having students create something for themselves using the 3D printer I would have the students design and create something they could sell to other people. Students would create an object they could use that will benefit them and other people to make something easier. Some example might be a charger holder, key chain holder, book mark, or a water bottle holder. The idea is that the students are creating something of their own to make something that will benefit people. The students would create something and then attempt to sell it to other students. The students would have to create visuals as advertisements, selling points, pricing, and use persuasive talk. The teacher would host a night were the students could try and talk other students into buying their items and parents could come along as well. The buying process could be done with paper money.

Redefinition: One way I thought the 3D printer could be used to fulfill this level is by having the students create something to help people in need. As the teacher I would inform the students on issues that can be helped by creating something from the 3D printer. The students would have to research their issue and think of things they could design that could potentially help those in need. This would be a great way to give back to the community or even people beyond the community.

Connected Teacher

Reading the article Professor Alec Couros: "The Connected Teacher" really opened my eyes as to what social media can bring to me as an educator. The first sentence of this blog really moved me, “One powerful benefit of networked learning is that when you find something interesting, it often leads to someone interesting - and that someone often leads to an entire networks of interesting people”. To me this is exactly what being a connected teacher is. It’s finding valuable resources online that you can follow and then finding even more based on those primary people. The online world offers great connections and resources for educators. It is just up to the educator to use these resources to better themselves as teachers.  

After reading a few blog posts from Kristina Peter's blog  I also learned how important it is to reflect. Reflection is key to learning. To be a connected teacher, you should be reaching out and following people on social media but you should also be collaborating and commenting as well. Being a connected teacher means that you are creating conversation and collaborating with people. This could be done by simply leaving a comment on someone’s blog post or asking questions on twitter. I think I would enjoy creating a blog to reflect on my findings as an educator.

Using social media to enhance your teaching is a wonderful experience. As a college student, I have begun following teachers on twitter. I love scrolling through my twitter feed and seeing all these great ideas being done by teachers in Iowa. PLN is a great way to get connected with other teachers and broaden your ideas. You are able to learn about new things and be able to do new things in your classroom. Constantly broadening your mind and ideas are key to being a great teacher and PLN is a great way to do that.

When I googled “how to be a connected teacher” endless amounts of article came up. I decided to click on the first one that was titled 5 Tips for New Teachers to Become Connected Educators . I decided it would be a credible source because it is from edutopia and was created by educational consultant. Here is a list of the 5 tips she explains

1. Be able to define what it means to be a connected educator
2. Be knowledgeable about web 2.0
3. Be willing to join social media network
4. Become and blogger
5. Be reflective and reach out

I liked this article because it was straight to the point and she does not necessarily define everything. She provides resources to look at to define what a connected educator is and to figure out how what web 2.0 is. She does not just give you an answer, you have to do a little digging and I think I learned a lot more because of that.

Speed Geeking

Exploring the different resources during class was a fun experience. I really enjoyed getting experience with all the different kinds of technology. Some of my favorite things I explored were the sphero, osmos tangram, numbers, and words, chromebook, squishy circuits, LittleBits, and Makey Makey. My top three favorite things were the sphero, LittleBits, and Makey Makey. I have played with the sphero before and I just loved the coding aspect of it. Students can learn so many different things with the Sphero. My second favorite thing was the LittleBits. I loved playing with these because I plan to teach younger students and I could see myself using these in my classroom. They are magnetized circuit makers that younger students are able to use to understand circuits. My third favorite thing would be the Makey Makey set. This is another circuit maker that allows students to be very creative with what they are making. I love that Makey Makey can be hooked up to almost anything and can be made into anything. A few things I did not like as much was the Smart Kapp board and Arduino. I just did not see much of a use for the Smart Kapp board and it was very touchy when I used it. With the Arduino, I guess I did not really know how to use it and it was very advanced. I could see myself using that technology in a high school or middle school setting. Since I am wanting to teach the younger grades I just do not see myself using this.

*Check out my Google Sheets that I created about all the different technologies I explored here.