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Through the Digital Leading and Learning Program at Lamar University, I have been working with a co-worker, Andrea Miller on an Innovation plan to integrate STEAM into our classrooms daily. We have done a TON or research, planning and developing of this plan and we are constantly looking to improve what we are doing. If you would like to read more about our Innovation Plan, please look around on our web pages and explore all the links within! (Happy Learning & Exploring!) Teacher are now selling things on Teachers Pay Teachers as a "Growing" bundle where they will continue to add new material. I thought I could take this idea of "growing" material and transfer it to my blog. On this blog I will continue to "Grow" and add resources or ideas related to Integrating STEAM into the classroom as I am continuing my learning! If you have new ideas or resources please share them with me below. We can all learn from each other! 🌱 ICYMU: How to STEM Up Your Classroom Web Seminar (1/24/19) is a video recorded seminar that provides some examples and ideas for integrating STEAM into your classroom! Check it out here! I love this resource created by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. It would be a great resource to share with parents to explain the why behind a Learning Mindset. Digital citizenship is similar to being a citizen. You must obey the laws and rules but it is also important to give back to your community. Digital citizenship is not only about following the rules, but it is also about helping to create a positive, supportive environment and footprint in the digital community. Overall, I have learned more than I thought I already knew about digital citizenship and the impacts technology has in our daily lives. My greatest accomplishment for this course was writing my culminating paper, video and mantra. I really appreciated the time I was given to bring the course all together in a thoughtful and memorable way. My greatest challenge was completing all of the work as there was much more to accomplish each week than I am used to. While this course was very different from the other classwork in the Digital Learning and Leading program I believe this course challenged my growth mindset and determination to learn and understand the content in a different way than I am used to. The work I am most proud of is my culminating paper. While I was writing it it really helped me to bring what I have learned together, making connections and then sharing what I have learned in a written piece. I took a lot of time to work on this and feel very proud of the end product. Teaching kindergarteners in a digital word is very interesting. Many of my students are still learning technology basics (i.e. mouse, keyboard, typing, searching) while others are familiar with the different technology tools and feel comfortable exploring, creating and guiding their own learning. No matter what level my students are at I think it is important to begin in Kindergarten to teacher digital citizenship. After completing this course, I would like to talk more to my students about digital communication teaching them how to respond to each other in a positive way, encouraging each other. I think by doing this at a young age they can learn early on to have a positive attitude when it comes to digitally communicating. Overall I would say the most useful thing I have learned from this course was about cyberbullying. At the kindergarten level, students are still new to school and pretty innocent. It is pretty rare to see any type of bullying. After reading about cyberbullying and the deaths of some students it really made me open my eyes to how mean some kids can be and how we need to encourage our students to speak up, be strong and stay positive when it comes to bullying. This is something that can begin to be taught at any age! Now that I have completed this course I hope to change the way I teach my students to communicate digitally with each other and help them to embrace their own digital footprints. I also have a new awareness of my own digital footprint and will be thinking of my impact anytime I am posting. I hope I can now be a good role model for my students and coworkers and can teach others to be responsible, respectful and safe when it comes to digital citizenship. My favorite part about this course was the discussions. It seemed like schools are all over the board when it comes to digital citizenship. I enjoyed talking with other people from other states and districts to hear how they or their district implements digital citizenship and being able to compare each reflection. It was interesting to see schools that can be different but all still trying to help students to be safe and responsible when it comes to using technology. My suggestions for other students taking this course is to keep up with all of the readings, videos and assignments. I luckily did this course but I don’t think I would have been able to make things up if I didn’t get them done on time. Plan our your time and manage your tasks. Chunk away piece by piece until it is finished. And when finally do finish you will feel very knowledgeable in digital citizenship and accomplished for taking on the challenging tasks. If I could have changed one of the activities from this course I would have changed some of the copyright case studies. I feel like those did not really help me understand copyright as well as the videos and lecture. I really liked the reflection journal because it got me to take what I have learned that week and put it together to help solidify my learning and understanding of the weeks lesson. If I had the chance to talk to my friends and give them my personal opinion about this course I would say that although the format made learning difficult as I often felt rushed, now that I have completed the course I am very proud of myself for sticking through it! #GrowthMindset I have learned more than what I thought I already knew and feel more prepared when it comes to teaching digital citizenship. Free-Photos. (n.d.). No name. [Image]. Attribution: PhotosForClass.com.
Rawpizel. (n.dn). No name. [Image]. Attribution: PhotosForClass.com. Zeitfaenger.at (2014). ...Nest generation. [Image]. Attribution: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 & PhotosForClass.com. This week we dive into the important world of cyber bullying. Cyber harassment has been defined by Grand Valley State University (2018) as “communication in an online capacity through an electronic device or through social networking with a purpose to harass another, either through a physical threat to inflict injury or commit a crime against the person, or by conveying indecent and obscene material with the purpose to emotionally harm another.” Weather it is a one time harassment or ongoing bullying the pain that results from the rude or negative comments does not hurt any more or less. The sad part about this is that it is often not a stranger that is bullying or harassing; it’s typically someone you know or are in contact with.
Something I found shocking this week is that some states still do not have rules or regulations against cyber bullying and that some schools or businesses do not have thorough, thought out plans to prevent cyber bullying. We know that many students that are being bullied will not reach out to their families or an adult. We also know that if students have friends who stick up for other people, they are more likely to stick up for other people themselves. With this being known, it is important for teachers to promote this change in language and community as it pertains to social media. As Sarah Moscovici, a social psychologist says, “When there is consistency overtime, change can happen.” If teachers are consistently teaching students about the their rights and their responsibilities of being a good digital citizen, of providing a positive digital footprint, a supportive digital community and using digital media to encourage each other, students will catch on and we can create a change from the negative use of social media to the positive.
I also think about Kyler Murray as we have discussed this week in class. When he was younger he tweeted comments that I’m sure he later forgot about as to him they did not seem a big deal at the time. Later these tweets have resurfaced and he had to publicly apologize for his mistakes. Although the tweets have since been deleted, you can still find screen shots or articles explaining what the tweets said and these images and comments will forever be a part of his digital footprint/tattoo. His mistake will be with him forever. This week we learned about the sensitive subject of cyber bullying and the very dangerous effects they can have on people. It is our responsibility to teach our students about these ricks and their digital impact as technology continues to advance. Even if your school does not have policies in place, this is something that will continue to grow and advance and it is important for us to model and teach what it means to be a good digital citizen. Other stories of people who have been impacted by cyber bullying: ABCNews. (2015). High school student charged as adult in secting case. [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SENGlOR9tYo
Brewer, G. & Kerslake, J., (2015). Cyberbullying, self-esteem, empathy and loneliness. Computers in Human Behavior, 48, 255-260. GVSU. (2018). Digital workplace. Retrieved from: https://www.gvsu.edu/e-hr/cyber-bullying-129.htm Ruttle, C. (n.d.). Kyler murray secured the hisman trophy saturday night. Associated press. [Image]. TED. (2013). “To this day”.. for the bullied and beautiful | shane koyczan. [Video file]. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa1iS1MqUy4 TED. (2015). The price of shame | monica Lewinsky. [Video file]. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_8y0WLm78U This week I learned much more than I knew originally about copyright, infringement, fair use, plagiarism, and the public domain. As technology continues to grow and advance, the world is literally at our fingertips, through the Internet, smart phones, tablets and other digital devices. People are constantly sharing their ideas, findings, discoveries and stories. As part of digital citizenship it is important to know and understand the copyright terms, what is fair use or part of the public domain and how to avoid copyright infringement as well as plagiarism. In the article The Difference Between Copyright Infringement and Plagiarism, Jonathan Bailey discusses just the difference between plagiarism and copyright infringement. Plagiarism is when you take, word for word, someone else’s work and use it as your own. Copyright infringement is the same, taking work that is not your own and claiming it as your own, but this is work that is copyrighted. You can plagiarize anything, and many schools have policies and rules about not plagiarizing but this is not covered by copyright and legal action many not be taken. I thought this was very interesting because every year I have been in school we are always talking about not plagiarizing but I did not realize this could be different from copyright infringement. With copyright infringement, the original owners could sue you for stealing their work and it is much easier if that work is registered with the copyright office. I also learned a lot about “fair use” during this week and how confusing that it may be. Being a teacher, there are many things that fall under fair use that my students and I can use in their learning and understanding. The purpose behind fair use is to expand knowledge and learning to continue and develop the knowledge of others. It is important to know that just because education has some exceptions because of fair use, this does not mean it is just a “free pass” according to the Association of Research Libraries (2015). There are still many guidelines that must be followed and understood to use other peoples work fairly. My take aways from this week are that I will be more intentional about what I am posting for my own education and while I am teaching. As I use resources in the classroom and in my learning, I will be making sure to give credit where credit is due, checking for copyrights and fair use guidelines for each item used. This is especially important as technology and sharing continue to grow. When teaching our students about digital citizenship, it will be important to take time to teach them about copyrights and being respectful in the digital world. For our students, as schools begin to advance and become more tech savvy, they will be exposed to all kinds of knowledge, information and literacy across the world. They will be using their knowledge and discoveries to share their learning with the world in the classroom and beyond. It is important for us to teach them what it means to be a responsible digital citizen and how to follow copyright guidelines for themselves and others work, to be successful in this digitally advancing world. Association of Research Libraries. (2015). Code of best practices in fair use for academic and research libraries.
Bailey, J. (2013). The difference between copyright infringement and plagiarism. PlagiarismToday. Retrieved from: https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2013/10/07/difference-copyright-infringement-plagiarism/ CrashCourse. (2015). Copyright basics: Crash course intellectual property 2. [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/Tamoj84j64I This week we discussed the impact technology has on our lives and the digital footprint or tattoo we leave behind. At this day in age, technology is all around us. It helps us to get through our days, making them more convenient, enjoyable and social. I know I use technology daily and a day without technology would be rough. I wake up using my phone, I check the traffic before driving to work, I listen to music, check my email, meditate, make phone calls or send texts and once I’m at work I use technology even further. I teach my students using my digital curriculum, reach out to parents and staff, display work, instruct students, set up classroom routines and allow technology learning/exploring time for my students daily. It is a big part of their education and learning.
It’s interesting to think about the iGeneration and how they have always had access to devices or technology. Their generation will always be different from everyone else as being the first generation defined by their tech and media use, their love of electronic communication and their need to multitask. As I am teaching the students I have now, I think how they were born when touch screens and smart phones were so advance. I always wonder how this will change their lives as compared to where we are at now. Things will look much different by the time they are out of school. This is why it is so important, even in kindergarten, to teach students about their digital footprint or digital tattoo.
After this week I have realized how important it is to leave, check and maintain my positive, hopefully inspiring digital footprint in the world. I plan to check my footprint as I continue to post and think about what I am posting before it is out there. I am curious to see where this technology takes us and the great things we will learn and experience as the technology continues to grow and become deeper engrained in our lives and the world. Want to check your digital footprint? Take these following steps to see how careful you are when you post to the internet. Want to know the impact Instagram has had on digital citizenship? References
Family Online Safety Institute. (n.d.). Clean up your digital footprint. [Image]. Retrieved from: https://www.fosi.org/good-digital-parenting/clean-your-digital-footprint/ FriendlyScreens. (2011). Do you really have a private life online? social network privacy loss due to friends). [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/-e98hxHZiTg Long, C. (2015). What net neutrality means for students and educators. National Education Association. Retrieved from: http://neatoday.org/2015/03/11/net-neutrality-means-students-educators/ Marlagbaughman. (n.d.). Digital footprint - thinglink. [Image]. Retrieved from: https://www.tes.com/lessons/Uz44a9JbYcxbQQ/digital-footprint TED. (2014). A 30-year history of the future | Nicholas Negroponte. [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/5b5BDoddOLA TED. (2011). Beware online filter bubbles" | Eli Pariser. [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/B8ofWFx525s Watson, E. (2018). Digital citizenship and instagram. [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/zlSUhrvl1-8 Journal Reflection on Digital Citizenship.
Thesis This week I learned there is more to Digital Citizenship than just following rules and etiquette. I thought that being a digital citizen meant you were respectful with the way you communicate with people and that you were safe with your searches and discoveries. Development I now know the best way to describe digital citizenship is to look at the nine elements from Mark Ribble. Here is what I think about when I see these nine elements and why they are important to digital citizenship: 1. Digital Access – Everyone has equal opportunities to use and be involved in/with technological resources no matter their backgrounds, disabilities or educational level. 2. Digital Commerce – Electronic buying and selling of goods. Students participate in the process of selling something or buying something electronically. 3. Digital Communication – Students communicate with each other through technology device to gain information or share their ideas in an appropriate manner. 4. Digital Literacy – Learning the basics of digital tools to help deepen learning. 5. Digital Etiquette – Learning how the use of technology and your own digital actions can effect others. It is important to talk about cyber bullying and how we can be respectful while using digital tools. 6. Digital Law – Understanding the laws and rules when it comes to using digital tools. 7. Digital Rights and Responsibilities – Using technology appropriately to further learning. Making sure to cite other people work and being respectful to their work. 8. Digital Health and Wellness – Physical and Psychological wellness as it relates to digital tools. Showing students how to avoid injury or discomfort as well as knowing when to take breaks from technology. 9. Digital Security – Being safe while using digital tools. Protecting your private information from others. One skill that I found I was leaving out of my original definition of what digital citizenship is was the idea that a good digital citizen contributes back to the digital community. This idea was brought up in the Darren Kuropatwa – Digital Ethics and Digital Citizenship video. This video was my “ah-ha”moment of the week. It made me think beyond just safety and kindness but just as we do community service “IRL” it is important also to give back to the digital community by sharing our ideas, findings, or communicating in a respectful, kind way. I also learned that these are not skills that are taught in isolation. They are all interconnected and should be taught that way. For that reason Ribble organized these elements into 3 categories (affecting student learning & academic performance, the overall school environment or student life outside of school). I also learned that as these are all interconnected they must also be taught repetitively so students can gain understanding of the elements. He suggests teaching them in REP chuck (Respecting yourself and others, Educating yourself and connections with others and Protecting yourself and others). These REP principals will come up repetitively so student can better understand and learn about the nine elements. Conclusion Through this weeks readings and other resources I have now redefined my own definition of what digital citizenship means to me. I believe digitals citizenship is: Using technology responsibly and appropriately to access information and contribute to the digital community. I know that this definition, as well as those out there now, will continue to change as technology advances but I think the most important thing that we know is how to use the technology to help the world and the people in it, not hurt it, or them. Ribble. M. (2015). Digital Citizenship in Schools: Nine Elements All Students Should Know. International Society for technology in Education; Third edition. As I was watching the video, Empowering the teacher technophobe: Kristin Daniels at TEDx (above), she had us think about our last PD. Literally my last PD was exactly as she described, where the expert came in and taught us all about this great Phonics program and then we were sent off with our notes to do what she said. I can see, and have seen before with previous PDs, how this is NOT the best way of sharing Professional Learning. Most PLs are ineffective because there is a lot of sit and get rather than, as Dr Harapnuik says, go and show learning.
I hope by creating an effective PL and sharing this plan with our principal will help him to see how we can make a change in our district to prepare students for their futures as well as promote change in the way we host other PLs. When hosting PLs you definably need coaching and help with implementation but you need to be careful with the type of coaching you have available or the coaching you will be providing. If you have coaches where if a teacher asked questions or tried something new that may run and "tattle to" the principal rather than working through these ideas with the teacher you may run into trust issues, effecting the outcome of your Professional Learning and of your Innovation Plan. This relationship may not be a safe or trusting relationship so the learning on the teachers end will not be engaging and really lead them to not wanting to share or try new things because of being reported. I think as a coach, it is important to have a trusting relationship. If a teacher is trying something new, they are going to mess up and need to learn from their mistakes, they are going to need to be open about their mistakes and talk them through with a coach, not be afraid to share what is happening in their classroom. It will be important to be there for your teachers and to let them share openly about how things are going, reflecting on their learning and continuing to support them at whatever stage they may be, in order for them to grow and improve their skills. Through our Professional Learning we will have to be models as well as resources to share ideas and for teachers to ask questions. We will need to be team members throughout the PL by learning together. This will help promote an engaged and supportive Professional Learning Community within our schools. When reading Teaching the teachers Effective PD I was shocked to hear that 90% of teachers reported participating in PD but most of those teachers also said the PDs were useless. I have felt like this before with some of my PDs but I did not realize that 90% of teachers also felt this way. This just goes to show that we need to change the way we are teaching teachers, just like we are changing the ways we are teaching our students! Principals of Effective PD:
The numbers:
The Professional Learning Community Model will be very helpful when hosting a PD. While administration may currently be hosting PDs in the “Teacher as a Technician” format, I think it will be our job to model the “Teacher as an Intellectual” format of Professional Learning, not only to show and model a different way of teacher education but also to promote a learning community where the teachers feel involved and part of the learning process. This will promote “buy in” and help teachers to try new things, without being scared, working together to learn and grow their teaching skills. Gulamhussein, A. (2013). Effective professional development in an era of high stakes accountability. National School Boards Association: Center for Public Education, Teaching the Teachers. Harapnuik, D. (2016, Aug 14). EDLD 5388 module 1. [Video File]. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/1zcOS5OsRR0 [TEDx Talks]. (2013, Nov 6). Empowering the teacher technophobe: Kristin daniels as tedxburnsvilleed. [Video File]. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/puiNcIFJTCU Growth Mindset (2.0)Just as the apps on your phone continue to grow and update to become better than their pervious versions, my ideas on Growth Mindset have changed since my original post (and I'm sure they will continue to grow and develop in the future). Just as with apps, I am not erasing my old ideas of what I know about having a growth mindset, I am simply improving what I already have and adding new learning and ideas to my original post. Please Enjoy Growth Mindset 2.0 (this post) and share any new learnings and ideas you may have below!
Helping students to develop their growth mindsets is important to teach because it will help students to feel comfortable taking risks, trying something even if they may be wrong and listening & using feedback to enhance their learning. I have recently been put to the test with my growth mindset through my Digital Leading and Learning masters program at Lamar University. When taking my classes, I have had encouraging professors that had high expectations, a motivating and enthusiastic attitude and continuous opportunities to improve learning. We were never “done” with an assignment and when we received feed forward to make our work better. There had been times in the course where I had felt overwhelmed with the amount and depth of work for my courses and was not sure where we were going with our lessons. I had to remind myself and refer back to Carol Dweck's Mindset book, if something is challenging, I am learning. In the end, I have realized how much I learned along the way and how I am excited to continue on my learning journey.
I hope to promote this excitement and growth mindset to my students just as my professors have done for me. One of the biggest ways I have learned to do this is by modeling for my students what a growth mindset is. Discussing when things get challenging and coaching students to dig deep and not to give up. Teaching students when they hear their fixed mindset, because they will, that they have a choice and they can change their thoughts to a positive growth mindset. Holding my students to high standards, giving feed forward and working together with my students to learn. I will also share my stories of how I have had to have a growth mindset when it comes to learning. We are all learning and just because we don’t know something doesn’t mean we cant learn it. It just means we haven’t learned it “yet” . When teaching grit and growth mindset I will be honest with my students. We all aren’t perfect, we all make mistakes, we all can have a fixed mindset at times and lack some grit. But that is exactly when you need to practice those growth mindset skills and really use grit to continue learning and not give up! To dig deep, use your why and continue moving forward. When you struggle, you are growing and it takes grit to power though and continue your learning each and every day. I’ve watched the Grit video (above) over and over again many times. I feel as though Angela is right. We don’t have an answer. There is no end or one right way to teach grit or a growth mindset. But we do know how important it is to teach these skills to our students. This is not just something that we have for a class, or one assignment. This is a mindset for our lives and futures. Modeling for our students, families and friends what a growth mindset looks like and having discussions on how we can promote this mindset with others is key. Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone gets knocked down. It’s how we handle these situations that determines if we have a growth mindset. By changing the language in my classroom from “I cant” to “I cant yet” or from “I’m done” to “how can I make this better” I will be teaching students to change their mindsets about their learning. This will help students when getting feed forward as they will enjoy getting advice on how to improve their work and become better at what they are doing. The goal is to move students away from trying simply just to complete a task or get a grade and towards taking on challenging tasks that will help them to be self motivated to learn and grow. Through my courses at Lamar, my mindset has been forever changed (.. and is still growing). I still have my fixed mindset moments but I am more aware of these moments and now know how to talk back to them. When I am having a difficult time and I need to dig deep, I listen to my professors who are SO passionate about what they teach, I listen to my classmates who are going through the same struggle and learning along side me, I watch videos (linked throughout this entire post and all over the internet) to remind myself what it means to have a growth mindset and grit and I think of my why. I use that why to help me to persevere and continue growing in my teaching profession, as a learner and in life. This is the mindset I hope to pass along to my students, family and friends. This is the mindset that will help me to continue my learning journey. Original Growth Mindset PostLooking for more resources? Check out my Growth Mindset Page that I use with my students! |
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