Kasie's+445+Wiki+Workspace

__An Educator’s Social Media Guide__ After reading Aaron Hogan’s article, I have to admit- I need to reevaluate my social media habits! Through the eyes of an educator, I can see where social media platforms, like Twitter, could be useful, as it’s a place where tons of people can all express ideas for improvement in education or just their thoughts on certain topics. Hogan’s article gives educators access to a platform to share ideas and participate in topics that can help improve the classroom and school climate. The “Twitter chats” that Hogan talks about is a great resources for new teachers and can be a great resource for connecting with other professionals in the education world. Utilizing those apps that Hogan detailed in the article can also help pull out the specific information that would be best for your own classroom and educational philosophy.

__The Secret Language of Girls on Instagram__ I can’t say that I was very surprised after finishing this article. I think it’s important for teachers to understand the habits and the lingo of today’s popular social media platforms. This way, teachers can be ready to handle a situation that could be brought to them by a student concerning an issue on, say for instance, Instagram. It may seem silly that a young middle school girl could be tore up because her likes-per-minute ratio is on the low side, but it’s something that these girls (and guys too) find important. As educators, we need to be there to support and encourage the goals of those students, no matter how small. It’s also important for teachers to talk with students as a whole about online presence and to make sure that students stay safe on those social media platforms. Finally, if teachers know and understand what’s popular with students, they have a better opportunity to strengthen those relationships with students.

__Online Professional Identity Follow-Up__ After looking through the world wide web with Eve to see our online identity, I was shocked. I never realized how much of my information was present on different websites. I know that Eve showed me pictures of me and my family on Google Images and some of my family information could be pulled up on a website called Pipl. That’s a little frightening. For my own professional identity, I would want my future employers to see only the professional side of me, not so much the personal side. This assignment really made me think twice about where and how I post information and photos on my different social media platforms. I really want to clean through my social media pages, especially my Facebook, since they hold a lot of pictures and posts from my middle and high school years. I feel like those images don't accurately display the professional that I want to be (nothing bad, it's just old stuff from high school). I hope to, at some point, merge my professional and personal posts, but for now, the two are pretty separate. My professional accounts, though, are solely for educational uses, so this is where you'll see the postings for teaching, ELA, social studies, and other professional organizations. I hope to still use Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for professional use, as well as for personal use.

I totally understand wanting to keep some distance from social media to make sure it doesn't take over your life, but I think you're right in recognizing how awesome it can be in collaborating with other educators and staying on top of your profession. When you think about how teachers 20 years ago only had their own ideas or those of their colleagues/PLTs whereas we now have access to an entire worldwide community of people with great lesson plans and activities and ideas to share, it almost makes you feel responsible for taking advantage of it! I like how you highlighted in the Instagram article that even though we might find getting upset about social media "likes" silly, it is the reality of our students and something we need to be receptive to. As far as your online identity, what are some changes you'd like to make to help future employers, parents, and teachers see the professional side of you? In what ways are you rethinkng where and how you post information on social media? Please add some more detail to that section.

__Online Professional Identity Presentation__ If for some reason the video doesn't pull up, let me know! Here's the [|link].

__Digital Images/Video Fast Forward__ I loved the readings for this week! I already really love social media platforms outside of the classroom and ever since I decided to go into teaching, I've always wanted to utilize new technologies in my classroom to keep students engaged in the instruction. This is why I love the idea of creating a class Instagram page for my students to take part in! Hannah Hudson's article on "10 Surprising Ways to Use Instagram in the Classroom" gave me a lot of awesome ideas for ways that my students can create more engaging and inclusive assignments and projects. I really liked the way that she talked about using Instagram to create profiles for fictional book characters or a historical character. Assignments like that can get students to read closer to understand the character's personality and other important traits that could be represented in a picture post. Thinking back to my experiences back in middle and high school, using technology in class was a luxury. My middle and high school was situated in a rural community, so wifi and cell service wasn't very strong. I know that we had a pretty large computer lab in middle school that we could use as a class, but besides the teachers having their computers and projectors, we weren't a very tech savvy school. That being said, high school was totally different. Everyone in the school got a Google Chromebook by the time I was a junior and technology use was at a whole time high. But going back to middle school, I think that a lot of my teachers were more old fashioned and wasn't super familiar with technology. This reflects differing views than what's the article by Melanie Shoffner. According to that article, "Technology, in all its forms, seems to be an addition, rather than an inherent component, of the ELA classroom". I would have loved to see more technology in my own experiences in middle school because I feel like it would have helped me understand certain aspects of ELA instruction better than just seeing it on a projector. Another aspect from the readings that reflected back to my experiences was the use of digital video in the ELA classroom. I like the idea of using videos to help with instruction and the article supports the integration of multi-modal texts in ELA classrooms. This article states that this combination of text and multimedia is "...a new era of writing instruction that focuses on students as composers of multimodal texts—products that combine text, images, audio, and video in innovative ways that build upon traditional notions of what we understand to be good writing". I think this integration is key to student success and I definitely want to see it used in my own classroom in the future. Teaching students to interpret those digital images will be a useful tool for them, since a lot of the world they know is on the move to a more digital footprint. To best educate them in these new practices, I want my students to have as much exposure to these new practices as I can give them. This means that I will attempt to include multiple examples of digital literacies and other forms of technology within my lessons and units.

I'm glad you're so jazzed up about the articles and the ideas that they offered you! I really like how you emphasized that the main idea from these articles is that technology can be used as a component of the ELA classroom, not just an addition to it. Particularly, you talked about using digital videos as a writing component to engage students which I think is a great idea. I think most of us had similar experiences to you, where technology was rarely used and, if it was, it was done as a secondary or follow-up idea and not as a main project. One aspect of the digital video article that I liked a lot was enabling students to be able to critically analyze digital videos, not just consume them. How do you see that being a relevant skill for students? How do you think we can best teach them to do that?

__Initial Ideas about MSL Electronic Portfolio or Teaching Toolkit __ I personally like the idea of creating a portfolio that would show off the different teaching strategies and technologies that we have worked on over the course of the semester. I've created portfolios through a google site before for other classes, so I'm sort of more familiar with that than with a toolkit (though I would assume the two are very similar). Either way, I would say that the purpose, audience, possible categories, and content would be as follows:
 * Purpose: to showcase my knowledge and capabilities of new and emerging educational technologies and how I would use them in my future classroom
 * Audience: fellow teachers, parents, students, administration (future employers), other professionals in the education world and beyond
 * Possible Categories: Here I would break down each new technology and give a little explanation of what it is and how it could be used in the language arts or social studies classroom. I would also include tabs for each core block so that they would be able to see their homework assignments, a contact page for parents, links to a school calendar and a separate calendar for my classes. There would also be a photo gallery that would allow parents or other professionals to see the work that my students would be working on. Finally, I would include a section that would list out my philosophies for my classroom, as well as other references to what I've learned throughout my pre-service programs and while teaching.
 * Content: I would post an example of the technology (or video of me using the technology, if possible) under its corresponding tab, along with a summary and a guide to its use. Homework assignments would also be posted, along with other class and school events in a separate calendar. For the professional tab, I would include my classroom philosophies and other references to what I've learned in order to become a successful teacher.

Nice job outlining the purpose of your portfolio. You mentioned "administration" in your audience group--were you alluding to the idea of future employers? If so, I think that's a great idea. I would also consider adding future parents and students to that group as this could be something that you could use to communicate with that group as well. You mentioned breaking down different technologies; however, what are some other categories that you could put in your portfolio? Think about showcasing your knowledge and abilities. Please add more detail to the the "categories" section.

__Takeaways for MSL Electronic__ __Portfolio/Teaching Toolkit__ After reading Dr. Young's article and reviewing the North Carolina Digital Learning Competencies, I have pulled out three points that I think will help me in creating my own electronic portfolio or teaching toolkit (I haven't decided which one yet), and making sure it is the best it can be. The first point came from Dr. Young's article and he said that portfolios in particular are meant to be both like a timeline and a reflective project. This means that anyone who views it can see growth and they can see the progression of what I've learned over the year. The second and third point come from the North Carolina Digital Learning Competencies. I wanted to point out that there should be an emphasis on digital citizenship within our portfolio or toolkit- I hadn't realized that until now. Finally, I noticed an aspect in the data and assessment section that I wasn't completely sure about, but I'm interested to learn more. This was the creation of individual learner profiles and I didn't know if that was something that you included on your website or if that was something that was more individualized (like you can only see your profile, but that might require a sign in?). Decision made- I'm going to make a electronic portfolio!

First things, I would really recommend deciding now whether you want to do an EP or a toolkit. Over these next few weeks is when you're going to be doing the majority of work on it and you don't want to save it all until the end, as you'll be able to produce something much stronger if you start now. Just my two cents! I love that you have focused on the idea of growth and making sure that your website reflects who you have changed as a student/teacher. Teachers are constantly looking to improve their craft and that's a great way to show employers that you are constantly looking to better yourself. Nice job implementing the NC Digital Learning Competencies as well--emphasizing digital citizenship and data/assessment will definitely impress future employers, but are also just good practices and goals as a future teacher. Good thoughts, Kasie!

__Digital Sound Bite 1: Community with the CCMMS Students__ Let me know if there is a problem with the [|link]!


 * __[|Link] to Electronic__ __Portfolio:__** mind you, it is still very rough and in progress!

__Takeaway from //A Long Walk to Water//__ [|Video]

__Digital Sound Bite 2: Community Throughout //A Long Walk to//__ //Water// [|Video]

__Status Report #1__: I've decided to do something totally different and create a Weebly for my portfolio! I've used Google Sites in the past, but this time, I wanted something new and interactive that I could easily edit and utilize for my classroom when I start teaching next year. I'm envisioning my portfolio to reflect my personality and the vision that I want to encompass in my classroom.

__Status Report #2__: I've decided on the different aspects of the portfolio that I want to include. This includes mock assignments on class pages, a calendar for assignments and events, a contact page, and a general announcement page. I definitely want to make sure that the portfolio shows what I have accomplished so far in my education courses and it also user friendly. I've selected a template that I feel best represents my personality through Weebly, so I'm excited to keep on developing it to be the best portfolio it can be!