Ms. McBride Gets TECHnical

Generation Like Image Source: huffpost.com I recently watched the documentary "Generation Like" by Frontline on PBS. This first aired in February of 2018 and it focused on how teenagers now had the ability to directly interact with their culture, the media, and as well as build who they are as individuals through the usage of social media platforms. Although this episode was from four years ago, I still think that the views expressed in the documentary still hold true today, if not more.  Back when this episode aired, it focused on Facebook and Twitter as the larger social media platforms for teens. It touched on YouTube for videos and also Instagram, but they were not the main focus. Within those four years, there definitely has been a shift in the social media platforms used by teens. I see TikTok and Instagram being their largest platforms at this time. As technology continues to evolve and more platforms get created, we will always see an ebb and flow in which platforms ...

Media Literacy Image Source: iite.unesco.org In this day in age, we are all very digitally dependent. Our phones are attached to our hips and we use them for a multitude of purposes. With that being said, this allows us to have access to so much information that is being posted and shared on the internet and through social media rapidly throughout the day.  The way information has been shared has not always been the same. As time has gone on, it has evolved from print, to radio, to television, and now the internet and social media. Just in the last 20 years, the media has come a long way! However, the purpose of the media has not changed over time. It's job has always been to inform, persuade, or instruct us. It is important that we all, including our students, understand the media and the various messages it can portray to us when we are exposed to it.  Being media literate is becoming increasingly important for all individuals especially with how much information is now shar...

CIPA & COPPA Image Source: raisingconnectedkids.com With technology and the internet playing important pieces in our students' lives, as educators, we need to do our best to protect and keep them safe. I hate to admit this, but I was not very informed about both the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). I have heard of these acronyms from my technology director and I know there is information regarding these acts in our acceptable use policy, but I have never been formally instructed on the purpose of these protection acts. I know that I cannot be the only teacher that feels this way as well. With how much we use technology and the internet inside of our classrooms, all educators should be well informed of the laws that help keep our students safe online.  I wanted to take a closer look into CIPA and COPPA since I was not too familiar with  them. I was able to learn more about what each of th...

Digital Tattoos Image Source: differencebetween.net Digital tattoos, like body tattoos, are something that stick with us for a long time. They represent who we are as individuals, express our opinions, and sometimes inform others of our decisions. Personally, I do not have any physical tattoos, but I do have digital tattoos because I post and engage with other individuals on a couple different social media platforms. The pictures I post, comments I leave, and the likes I give help the people that follow me get a better sense of who I am as an individual and a picture into my daily life. It is nice to be able to share pictures and information with others I do not see on a regular basis, but there are some dangers that come along with our digital tattoos. Something that you posted years ago, may not be an accurate picture of who you are now. If you want to try and erase something completely from the internet or that platform, it can be difficult to do.  This is why we have to be mind...

Image Source: umsystem.edu At the beginning of each school year, my district provides students, parents, and teachers with a copy of our district's acceptable use policy for technology. This document also includes information on guidelines, the take home agreement, and obtains parental consent.  When I first look at this document, it seems completely overwhelming and wordy. It contains seven long pages of information and two consent pages. One page for parents/students and the other for teachers. I know we provide this document to the parents every year, but I can't imagine that many of them are thoroughly reading this document and sharing the information with their child. It is not very user friendly, especially for our non native speakers of English, which is a large population within our district.  The acceptable use part of the agreement is addressed very generally. It is not specific to students, but to the users all throughout the district. It r...

Digital Privacy Image Source: digitaltrends.com Privacy is an important topic to look at as the internet and social media continue to become ever prominent pieces in our daily lives. Not only for us as adults, but for our students as well. I think that growing up with the evolution of the internet and all these social media platforms, has allowed me to make my own choices about what I should and should not put out there for others to see. When I think about it from my student's perspective, they are not educated enough to make these decisions because they are being pressured by peers and the media to engage on these platforms. I did not feel this pressure when I was growing up because not much of this was around.  Even as an adult, I try to keep a low profile on the internet. I never want to put too much of myself out there for others and my employer to see. However, I know more of me is seen not just by what I put out there for people, but by what I am searching and engaging with ...

Exploring Professional Learning Networks Professional Learning Networks, PLNs, are a great resource for educators! I was first introduced to them during a previous course I took at Dominican University.  PLNs allow us to connect, engage, and learn from other educators not only in the United States, but from all over the world. Since joining Twitter , and participating in an #TwitterChat, I have been able to communicate with many other teachers.  For me, PLNs affect me both socially and cognitively. They have h elped me to reflect on my classroom teaching as well as gain a few new resources along the way.   I love that I can learn from other educators by seeing what they are doing in their classrooms!  Image Source: teacherthought.com Trying Something New Like I said before, I have already been using Twitter as one of my professional learning networks, but I felt like I was ready to try sometime new. One of the social media platforms I use on a daily basis is Facebook...

Introduction About Me: Hello! My name is Katie McBride and I am an 8th grade special education teacher at Mannheim Middle School in Melrose Park. This is my 7th year at Mannheim, but 10th year in teaching all together. Prior to the school I am at now, I taught at a charter high school on the Northwest side of Chicago. This school year, I am co-teaching 8th grade math as well as teaching a section of it to a small group of students in our self-contained program. Math is definitely my favorite subject to teach because there is always a right answer! In 2010, I graduated from Illinois State University with my degree focusing in Special Education teaching. I went back to school at Dominican University in 2021 to pursue my ESL endorsement. After, receiving my ESL endorsement, I decided to continue on to earn Master's of Arts in Education. This is the last course I need to complete my degree. I am so excited to graduate in May!  Social Media: When it comes to social media, I am some...

Final Reflection Blog Image Source: istockphoto.com I really enjoyed the opportunity to take this course over the past eight weeks. Going into it, I was aware of STEM and STEAM, but I was not confident on how they could mesh together to create a well rounded activity for my students. I now am able to see the benefits of creating STEAM activities for my students that are driven by an engaging problem solving scenario and thoughtful transdisciplinary activities. I look forward to working with my 8th grade team to try and implement a STEAM unit for the future. In your opinion, what is the most difficult aspect of incorporating technology into a STEAM classroom?  Why is that particular aspect so difficult to overcome? I believe that the most difficult aspect of incorporating technology into a STEAM classroom is accessibility. This is because not all schools have the luxury of having a technology specialist who is able to support STEAM teachers. Another reason would be that some schools...

Mid-Term Blog Image Source: eschoolnews.com Coming into this course, I had not done much with including the elements of STEAM into my classroom. I honestly associated it with something separate of the classroom because we have a STEM elective course that our 8th grade students can choose to take. However, I now see that it is important to have courses that reach students who enjoy these areas, but to also get all students to engage in STEAM activities within the classroom environment. I enjoy that the book for this course, is providing examples of STEAM inside the classroom. It helps me visualize how I can begin to incorporate more STEAM activities inside my classroom.  One aspect of the course that I really like is the weekly Padlet. I enjoy getting to learn from my classmates and hear experiences they have had with different pieces of technology and STEAM.  Image Source: edsurge.com One new tool that I want to learn more about was posted by Marisa. She sh...

Image Source: uxplanet.org It was really interesting to go through the process to create this technology proposal. It really made me think and step outside of what I was used to doing as an educator. Although it was in my wheelhouse as a special education teacher, it made me think about how I could use technology to enhance the student progress information we send out to parents each quarter. I was glad that I chose to focus in this area because it is relevant to what I do in my teaching position. I am still excited about this topic. I think it has potential to be implemented in my building at the 8th grade level. The peers that I received feedback from enjoyed my proposal and thought it could be beneficial for our parents. They really liked the aspect of getting more parents invested by encouraging them to ask questions through the use of a Google Form. One thing that we will have to work on figuring out is the best way to complete the necessary translations. It may take some...

Image Source: Salesforce.com Thus far, I have enjoyed getting to work through the process of preparing my proposal. This is something different for me. I have never quite done something like this in my educational career, but I am enjoying how it is challenging me to move outside of my comfort zone. The most challenging thing for me so far is not being confident in myself and if what I was submitting was good enough. I tend to second guess myself and my work.  I know that this can be fixed by reaching out and asking more questions in order to clarify my understanding of the different steps of the proposal. I will work to do this as we continue to move forward in the process.  As soon as I read about the proposal project for this class I knew I wanted to focus it in my special education wheelhouse. Right away I thought that working to digitize goal updates using an infographic for our parents would be a great place to start. I enjoy this topic and think that it c...

 Social Media and Teenagers Image Source: Goldentech.com Since I am middle school teacher, I chose to take a closer look at social media and how it has the grasp on our teenagers. For many of my students, their cell phone is their life. I always hear about them talking about Snapchat and Instagram. I also see them  watching YouTube on their Chromebook when they are given some free time.  It is interesting to think about how much the internet and social media has changed since I was a teenager. We didn't have all of these apps. We were just starting to get into the world of Facebook, but it wasn't available to everyone yet. For me, I am just happy that I did not have to navigate adolescence with all these social media platforms. I don't think this generation feels the same because all they have ever known is the internet and social media.  It was interesting to read the article "A Teenager's View on Social Media". So many of us has made our own opinions on w...

Looking Back, Looking Ahead Image Source: hcamag.com Before I began this class, I was very reserved with my personal technology use as an educator. In the classroom, I was open to using many pieces of technology to better support my students and to keep them engaged. I was hoping this course would provide me with additional tools to use in my classroom. This class did do that, but it also  pushed me out of my comfort zone when it came to my own technology use. I had never considered starting a blog or getting a Twitter. I didn't feel like I had important things to share with the rest of the world. From the activities in this class, I have learned that there is so much more that I can be doing with technology for my career outside of the classroom.  I am very happy that I had to get a Twitter because I am now able to engage with other educators around the world. Just scrolling my feed, I am able to find things that are relevant to my classroom and how I am feeling as a teacher....

Digital Tattoos Image Source: news.hamlethub.com I never thought of our internet presence as a tattoo, but it really is! What we do on the internet stays with us and reflects upon who we are as an individual. I have never been one to want to have a large digital footprint. This class has gotten me out of my digital comfort zone by blogging, creating a Twitter, and engaging with other educators on the internet. Before I watched this week's class videos, I was content and comfortable with the progress I have made. Now, I am overwhelmed with the amount of information you can find out about an individual. Yes, much of it is public knowledge, but it is still scary to know that people can find so much information on one individual.  Data Mining I was both eager and hesitant to complete a data mining on myself. I was not so sure what I was going to find and how far back the information would go. I chose to start with Google . There, I entered my full name without my middle initial. Right ...

Professional Learning Networks I hate to admit this but, I was hesitant at first to complete this assignment. I was nervous to have a Twitter and to create more of a digital presence for myself. However, this assignment was very beneficial! I was able to connect with educators from across the world to learn from them. Below are just some reasons why all teachers need to be apart of a Professional Learning Network. I would definitely recommend all educators check one out because they can provide some great resources.  Image Source: teacherthought.com Twitter Chat: I  was also able to engage with other educators in meaningful discussions through the use of Twitter chats. The chat that I participated in was #edchat. On the day I took part in the chat, the question focused around planning and preparation in the classroom. They wanted to hear our opinions on if we had enough time to plan for our students and how our administration supported us with plannin...

Accessibility for All As a special education teacher this is something that is important to me. Students who have disabilities should be provided with the opportunity to be just as successful as their non disabled peers. For many of these students, they benefit from, accomodations, modifications, and assistive technology to help them reach their full potential.  Going back to my college days, I took a class on assistive technology. The majority of this class focused on assistive technology that would help support students who had significant disabilities. I remember learning a lot about switches, picture communication boards, and augmented communication devices. These pieces are important for a percentage of students, but many students do not need that intensive level of assistive technology to gain accessibility to the classroom and their daily activities. Check out the image below that outlines some additional examples of assistive technology that can help improve ...

Tweens, Teens, Tech, and Mental Health As a middle school teacher, I see the wide range of emotions that many of my students go through on a daily basis. Students frequently use technology as an outlet to cope with how they are feeling. With the pandemic interfering with daily life activities, teens have resorted to using technology more often to connect with others. I took a closer look at Common Sense Media's report titled "Tweens, Teens, Tech, and Mental Health: Coming of Age in an Increasingly Digital, Uncertain, and Unequal World"  to learn more about how technology impacts our teenagers and their mental health. Key Findings The first key finding that stood out to me was that the article stated that adolescents should use the internet as a social safety net.  Image Source: Common Sense Media I was surprised by this because if not used properly, teenages can navigate themseves into unfavorable situations that can have negative impacts  o...