Sam's+445+Wiki+Workspace

In his article Aaron Hogan offers his experience of using Twitter as a professional platform and how he has grown from never using it to becoming involved in the community of educators online. In the first paragraph, Hogan claims that engaging in Twitter has been one of the most beneficial things to his as a professional. I was a little skeptical about this statement when I began reading but as I read through the article he clearly communicated how much of an impact Twitter, as well as other apps, has had on his professional life. Hogan shares that one of the main reasons he enjoys using Twitter is that it allows professionals to gather and communicate with each other which reduces the feeling of isolation that many teachers experience. The first thing that Hogan advises is that teachers follow other accounts that encourage, inspire and challenge them. This allows you to interact with people who make you think about issues and topics in education. Another way that Hogan encourages educators to be involved is to participate in Twitter Chats with other educators. Hogan admits that when he first started using Twitter Chats he would just watch the conversation but he encourages people to get involved in these conversations and to share your ideas and thoughts. Hogan makes the point that as you grow your Twitter community it may be overwhelming how much is posted, but he also points out that it is not necessary to read everything. There are other apps that you can use that will gather the articles and blogs so you can sort through what you want to read. Hogan concludes his article by reiterating his belief that Twitter is a great way to become more involved in the world of education and have insightful conversations with other educators who are working to be the best teachers they can be. In Rachel Simmons’ article “The Secret Language of Girls on Instagram” Simmons addresses the issues that many girls face when they are involved in social media, specifically Instagram. Simmons begins her article by stating the fact that Instagram is one of the most popular platforms of social media and many adolescents are using it frequently. Instagram, at its root, is a photo sharing app where users can post pictures and videos with captions. However, the addition of likes, comments and tags can lead to deeper issues of insecurity and exclusion. As Simmons states, Instagram is a place where adolescents can find acceptance and security with friends but it can also allow for users to feel excluded, unpopular and insecure. When adolescent girls have these experiences on social media these feelings will follow them in other areas of their life including school. Girls, and boys, who have positive experiences on social media where they feel a part of a community of friends will likely have more positive interactions in the school environment. However, if a student has negative experiences on social media they may feel more excluded in school which may lead to more serious problems such as falling grades, lessened involvement in extracurricular activities and even lowered self-esteem. As teachers it is important to know what students are, or may be, going through outside of school because much of what happens outside of school impacts how well the students does in school. Knowing that students may struggle with their online interactions can impact how a teacher teaches a student. Being informed about how adolescents interact online can inform what topics the teacher addresses. For example, having the knowledge about how Instagram can be a platform for adolescents to show popularity or exclusion can inspire the teacher to address the topic in class. As the teacher I could incorporate topics that address safe and positive ways to interact online and in social media. This conversation could also address the seriousness of online communication by teaching students about cyberbullying and the effects it can have on a person. The environment in which students interact online can dramatically impact how they act in the classroom. Using this information teachers can be more informed about what their students need and how they can best help guide them through this sometimes difficult part of their life.
 * __Reading Response for 8/28:__**

__**Online Professional Identity Follow Up:**__ One thing that I learned from the Wiki and our in class activity was that it is important to have a positive online identity. When my partner in class tried to find me online nothing came up about me. There was limited information about who I was. While I have liked this in the past, because I could not be found online, I now realize that it is important that people can find me when I want to be found for professional purposes. I do want people to be able to easily find me but I want to make sure that the information they find is positive information that I am comfortable with being public. I also want to make sure that I am in control of what people find and I want that information to be a positive representation of who I am as a person and who I want to be as a professional educator. By not having a digital footprint future employers may find it difficult to know who I am. However, if I work hard over the next few months to build my digital presence then future employers may be able to use that information that I have made public to better understand who I am and who I will be as an employee.

I really enjoyed how you highlighted the importance of not only implementing technology in the classroom, but also making sure you facilitate it in a way that teaches students to use technology responsibly. It is certainly not enough to just use technology or acknowledge that students use it, but to be a part of helping students to use it //better//. I also love how you thought about the ways in which technology use can impact how students act in the classroom or even relationships between students. This is something that we are going to have to be attuned to if we are going to meet the needs of our students. As far as your online identity, I definitely think you have the right idea--I would say that finding nothing about you online is better than finding something "bad," but finding something positive can open up opportunities for you to communicate yourself to parents, students, and future employers in the way that __you__ want.

__** Online Professional Identity Presentation: **__ https://prezi.com/view/NvS17qB8w920GghfmS2p/

__**Reading Reflection for 9/25/17**__ __Article 1:__ Editorial: Approaching Technology in English Education from a Different Perspective by Melanie Shoffner The article by Melanie Shoffner on using technology in the ELA classroom really resonated with me. I am very aware of the fact that as a teacher I need to be using technology in the classroom to enhance student learning but when I begin to think about how I will actually implement technology use I sometimes struggle to figure out how to connect all the pieces. In the article Shoffner mentions that some of the preservice teachers referred to using technology as a resource to engage students but I think that there should be a stronger reason for using technology other than just to get students attention. Like Shoffner states, student learning is the number one priority in the classroom so when I choose to use technology I want to ensure that it is being used purposefully and for educational reasons. I appreciated the section of the article about how technology requires students to use higher level thinking skills. This is especially true when teachers repurpose technology that students may already be using for educational purposes. Using technology in the classroom should be a regular occurrence so that students are well prepared to use technology however, in the classroom the use of tech tools should be limited to educational purposes that support student learning.

__Article 2:__ 10 Surprising Ways to Use Instagram in the Classroom: Legitimate excuses for your Insta-addiction. By: Hannah Hudson Before reading this article I had heard about using Instagram for educational purposes but I struggled to understand how it would work. I liked this articles ideas about having a class Instagram page on which students can post and share their work. I also liked the idea of using the class account to post inspiring or thought provoking images so students can find inspiration for writing when they cannot think of an idea on their own. One of the possibilities the article suggested was to have students think about what kind of pictures and captions characters in a novel would post if they had a personal Instagram account. I think this would be helpful for students understanding characters on a deeper level but I can also see how this could get out of hand very easily. I think this strategy would have to be used under certain circumstances because I think it would be very easy for students to get distracted trying to caption pictures or they would focus more on the Instagram post than they would on their reasons why this post would be a good representation of the character. All of the ideas in the article were new to me and I will continue to think about them as I continue to consider how I want to use technology in my classroom.

__Article 3:__ Editorial: Enhancing English Language Arts Education with Digital Video by Carl A. Young, Sheryl Long, & Jamie Myers Reading the article about using digital video in the ELA classroom by Dr. Young, Sheryl Long, and Jamie Myers was interesting because it gave a whole history of video use in schools. Before reading this article I had never really considered how teachers tried to use video in the classroom after it first became a form of entertainment. In my own experiences I have seen how teachers use video both as an education resource but I have also seen how teachers can use videos as a way to entertain students so they can finish grading an assignment or catch up on other work they need to get done. Even today video use in classrooms can be controversial but I had never really considered how it may have been perceived early on. I especially liked how the article talks about the fact that many students today are well equip with tools to analyze videos because they have been experiencing them all their lives and for extended periods of time on a regular basis. I think this is important because knowing this fact, teachers must take on the role of teaching students how to appropriately use technology and how to correctly analyze digital images and videos. The ELA classroom is a great place for students to learn how to interpret digital videos especially for literacy analysis. This task fulfills the expectations and standards for English Language Arts but it also prepares students for life after school as they learn how to critically watch digital videos.

Thoughtful responses, Sam! I'm curious about a point you made about the second article. You said that students could get distracted trying to caption pictures or would focus more on the Instagram post than on their reasons why the post would be a good representation of the character--what exactly did you mean by that? It seems to me that if the student is focused on the Instagram post, then they would inevitably have to be focused on the purpose of the post itself (a good representation of a character, etc.). I also totally agree with you about the importance of teaching students how to critically analyze digital videos as a lifelong skill since this is definitely a type of media they continue to consume after school.

__**Initial Ideas about MSL Electronic Portfolio of Teaching Tool Kit:**__ For this assignment I am planning to create a teaching toolkit. In some of my previous education classes I have created an electronic portfolio so I would like to expand my online resources by creating a teaching toolkit. From my understanding of this assignment, I think that creating this online toolkit will be beneficial to me as I begin teaching because it will collect a variety of tools into one place that I can reference as I need to. Creating this teaching toolkit will also help me organize my ideas about all the tools I have been exposed to over the last several years. By creating this toolkit I will be able to review what tools I have learned and what I liked about them and how I could possible use them in my classes. Having this organized toolkit will help me as I begin full-time student teaching because I will have a resource to reference for tools I want to use.

I was not sure what questions I needed to address so I did not specifically think about these questions in my initial post but now that you have brought these to my attention, answering these questions will help me determine what I want to do. Based on my initial post I would intend for my audience to mostly be myself and my colleagues. Originally I understood the toolkit to be a resource for me to use as a teacher that would house all the tools that I think would be beneficial to me as a teacher but I could also share this with my fellow teachers. If I were creating some categories for this website I could break it down into 1) tech tools for instruction 2) tech tools for assessment and 3) strategies for instruction. I think you have done a good job outlining the purpose of your teaching toolkit. All valid points. A couple things to consider: who do you intend for your audience to be for this teaching toolkit? What are some categories that you would like to use to help organize your teaching tool kit? Please add thoughts to those responses in this post in a different font color. Thanks!

DV Sound Bite Video 1:

[|__https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqTDIH3lL4icFVvQWxFSW85aVE/view?usp=sharing__]

__**Ideas for Electronic Portfolio or Teaching Toolkit Cont. (10/16)**__ Initially I believed that creating a teaching toolkit would be more beneficial to me as a beginning teacher, but after our class discussion and reading for this week I think that it may be better for me to create an electronic portfolio. I currently have some in-progress resources (Google Docs I have created, notebooks from previous classes) which house my ideas and strategies for teaching. Because of this, having a portfolio that I can show potential employers may be more beneficial for me at this point. My three takeaways from the reading this week: 1. My portfolio should be individualized and represent who I am as an individual professional. 2. The creation of a portfolio requires a lot of reflection about the teaching practice and personal thoughts and ideas. 3. Portfolios should be multi-modal which makes them more aesthetically pleasing as well as communicates more information to the viewer.

I am super behind you completing any project that you think will be beneficial to you, so EP it is! I definitely agree that making sure your EP is individualized is important. What are some ways you plan to do that? I would think about how your theme can accomplish this for you--as a way to show your personality and set you apart. I also think that this project requires a lot of reflection. I know that reflection can feel a bit redundant during a teacher education program, but it is most definitely to prepare you how to be a great teacher. I don't think there is anything more important to getting better at teaching than reflection. Finally, making your website pleasant to look at is super important. If you don't enjoy looking at it, nobody else will. Nice job, Sam!

__**Electronic Portfolio Link:**__ http://samanthalinnell.weebly.com/

__**EP Update #1 (10/26/17):**__ As I have begun thinking about how I want to change my electronic portfolio I have considered how I want it to represent who I am. I have first changed my theme from being very basic to now I am shaping my website around the idea of “the path of learning.” I chose to change my backgrounds to roads because I think it symbolizes the path of learning, but it is still simple enough to not be distracting from the content on my website. The next step I have taken is to begin planning my website. Rather than constantly editing my website I have chosen to create a [|__Google Doc__]  in which I will map out my website before I begin changing things on my official site. This way I can brainstorm ideas before I actually change my final product. On this page I have listed all the pages I currently have on my website as well as I have listed all the pages that I need to add and what artifacts I can put on those pages. By doing this I am able to think about things that I want to include without having to change my website right away, since it is already published. Finally, I have started a list of artifacts I have created over the last several semesters that I may want to include depending on how they fit within the pages. All of these have helped me think about how I want my website to look and what I will need to build my website.

__**Video Editor Practice (11/6/17): **__ https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LDxhYQF6DMhE6nXiYtxc35SecuvtEI91/view?usp=sharing

__**EP Update #2 (11/6/17):**__ I have been working to combine many artifacts from my teacher education into a cohesive, professional website. As I work, I consider what page on which I should place an artifact and how it contributes to an understanding of who I am as an educator. This week I worked on collecting many of the artifacts that I want to include and I began placing them on my website. It was really fun digging up my previous assignments and seeing how much I have completed over the last several years in the College of Education. It was also very interesting to see how much I have progressed in my thinking about education ideas. I have began listing the dates (at least the semesters) in which I created the assignments so that viewers can easily identify the most recent artifacts, but they can also see the timeline of my investment in developing these ideas. I think that combining all these artifacts on my website will give potential employers an understanding of how I have developed into who I am today as a teacher. I have considered what employers will be looking for as well as what I want to include to best represent myself. As I combine all these artifacts I think it is quickly becoming a quality representation of myself that I would be excited to share with other people. I still need to continue collecting artifacts to add to the technology pages especially. I also need to find more updated artifacts to add to my Planning, Teaching and Assessment page because most of what is currently there is a couple of years old. While I still have work to complete, I am beginning to see my website come together and it is exciting to create something that I will be giving to potential employers in a few months.

__**EP Final Submission:**__ http://samanthalinnell.weebly.com/