Middle is Mighty

It's Complicated Source Social media, or the internet, sometimes seems like a bad word. Thinking back to when I was in school, we would get yelled at and given a detention if we were doing anything with tech other than using it for Microsoft Word. Even at school as a teacher, we put down the use of phones and caution kids about the horrors social media can cause. However, tech and social media can be used to educate students and further their learning. It should be used as a means for engagement and a way to prepare them for the jobs of the future. Tech is here to stay, along with social media, so we need to be prepared for its use more often at school. A Microsoft researcher, named danah boyd, traveled to interview kids about social media in education. She interviewed students from all backgrounds and to hear what they had to say. She created a presentation, which I found quite interesting and commented on below. Surprising Finds One statistic I found interesting wa...

One Course Down Wow! It is crazy to think I am already in the last week of my first course towards a technology endorsement. I feel as though it flew by! I have learned so much about myself as a teacher and as a personal user of technology. I cannot wait to begin the next course to push my knowledge even further. Looking Back, Looking Ahead Source In late October, I began the journey towards furthering my knowledge as an educator. I was excited as I posted my first blog post and paired it with the Gif above. I wrote that I was excited to start and wanted to have a better understanding of how to implement technology in the classroom. I knew that it was important because kids today learn much differently than many teachers did when they were in school. I coupled that with this Gif to show my excitement in beginning the course. I felt I already knew a lot about technology because I had used it starting in elementary school. I still feel the same excitement as I think back...

Digital Tattoos A digital tattoo is similar to getting a real one on one's body: it is permanent and provides meaning or insight about that individual. When we go online and post on social media, we don't always think about how the post will affect us. However, digital tattoos provide others with wanted AND unwanted information about us. It is important to know what your digital tattoo looks like to be aware of what others can see. This week, I ended up researching my own digital tattoo, in something called a data mine. Being someone in education, I am a very public figure. Students, parents, and employees can all have access to information about me online. I used several different websites in search for my digital tattoo, which are highlighted below: The first website I used was Google. I ever so often hear about people "googling" themselves to see what is out there. I put my full name in, but I was surprised to find out that nothing was coming up in ter...