Introduction Blog Post

  I took some time to read through and process the research and data from Project Tomorrow's Speak Up  report. I specifically chose the 2021 report entitled Empowering and Engaging Student Voice to Create Equity in Education . I found the data rather eye opening about how students perceived the remote learning experience compared to how principals and district leaders interpreted it. One staggering finding was that 90% of principals claimed that the reason that students did not like virtual learning and were not engaged was that virtual learning did not promote enough social interaction with their friends. In contrast, when students were asked only 56% found that to be true, most of them interacted with their social group via social media platforms regularly (p.17). The longing for interaction perhaps was something an older, less technologically advanced age group was projecting onto this younger Gen Z group.  Image Source Yet another eye opening piece of information, see...

  I have not had a chance to really give a name to some of the activities that good teachers do regularly, but active learning  seems to describe activities that teachers should be engaging in. For this particular example, I chose the "A Year in Six Words"   which asks students to reflect on their school year in 6 words and then was shared with the community via social media. Check out my Jamboard regarding this activity  or reference the image below.                                                         Image Source: Personal Jamboard This activity ties into active learning because it puts student voice in the center and the teacher as merely a facilitator. Learning is mindful and it allows students to access their learning and connect it back to their feelings and lives. This particular example was done at the eleme...

      As I spend some time reflecting on Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) I think about both in person and online networks that help me grow and stretch as an educator. We have a teacher course team (TCT) for both world studies and psychology at my school and we meet regularly during our common planning period. We discuss content but also skills we are trying to develop especially in our 9th graders. In addition to that, last school year, I met once a week with members of other departments to discuss our school wide common book  Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain  by Zaretta Hammond  and we discuss equity issues in our school. This year, we will be meeting once a week to read and discuss Grading for Equity by Joe Feldman .                                                                ...

 I spent some time reading The Hottest Topics in Edtech in 2021   compiled by the International Society of Technology in Education commonly referred to as ISTE. There first trend they discussed was digital citizenship  which refers to how people use digital tools and the internet and whether they use they safely and appropriately. In addition to that, digital citizenship lessons should also encourage students to feel that they can contribute positively to the world using technology. In other words, being a good digital citizen doesn't mean young people should live in fear of the internet, but rather feel empowered to use it appropriately and in a positive way for themselves and their communities.  As a social science teacher for Chicago Public Schools, this is a topic that is close to my heart because teaching good citizenship is imperative in my department.  Image Source Having an abundance of resources in a teacher's toolkit is important when attempting t...

 I suppose if you've signed up for an educational technology class, it is important to take an honest look at where you fall on the spectrum of integrating technology resources into your instruction, especially early on in the course. For a digital immigrant like myself, remote learning and incorporating more technology was challenging.  I finally feel like I know Google Classroom really well, and welp we're back to in person learning and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is not going to a 1 to 1 device setting -- talk about a missed opportunity for the district to take a step towards addressing technology inequity.  Image Source As I was reading through the different rubrics and matrices, the one that most closely aligned with my professional teaching philosophy and technology goals was TPACK which stands for Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge which builds on a model first developed by Lee Shulman and then modified to include technology.  I have always beli...