Teach

What is media literacy?   Media Literacy helps learners develop critical thinking skills with all types of media such as articles, radio, tv, magazines, movies, music, and more. According to the article from Media Literacy Now, media literacy is “an umbrella term encompassing variety of approaches that build an understanding how media messages shape our culture and society and give people tools to advocate for a change media system.” Media literacy gives our students the opportunity to access and analyze media messages and create their own message and share it with others. Our professor Nicole shared how this is important now because our teenagers can spend around 11 hours per day using "media multitasking." In our classrooms How can we motivate and encourage our students to use digital and media in our classrooms? Involving digital and media can help our students be creative and come out of their comfort zone in a safe way. In the article Media Education L ab, the book from

Technology Around Us How important do you think it is to monitor our students while they are using technology in our classroom? Students spend around 7 hours every day in a classroom, and they are using more technology for educational purposes. For instance, my English language learners (ELLS) use their laptops to record videos in Flipgrid or to watch YouTube videos. As educators, we have the responsibility of monitoring our students' online activities. My students range from 15-18 years old. Most of them have a cell phone and laptop in my classroom. Therefore, I need to be more aware of this and try to explain to my students the importance of being responsible with our technology.  Source: Picture from Edutopia Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA): Social Media and Emerging Technologies course has taught the importance of technology inside a classroom and how to protect my student's information. Additionally, it has given me the tools to help them be digital citizens

  Your Privacy Setting Do you ever check your privacy setting, or the update emails you receive when there are new changes to these settings? Privacy settings allow people to control what information is shared on online platforms. According to Pew Research Center , 9% of adults reported they always read a company’s privacy policy before agreeing to terms and conditions. What about the other percentage? What do these people do? Are you part of this larger percentage? People need to understand that a digital footprint is information that exists online about them and their activities. Everything that they do or post will be there, no matter what. Therefore, knowing about privacy setting will help them protect their information. Source: USA Today a screenshot of Facebook's privacy settings on a smartphone Sometimes I get emails about new updates, but at that moment I say I will review them later before going to bed. Making small steps can help us protect our privacy. Not only

What is the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)? The first time I heard about the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) document was when I started as a teacher assistant around three years ago. A member from the office gave me this paper, and I asked nervously what is an AUP? She explained it was an important document given to everyone before they are given a computer or access to online tools (internet/network), and it was an agreement between me and the school about my rights and responsibilities. I will be honest: I skimmed through it really fast and signed. These days, I have read more about AUP and learned the importance of knowing our responsibilities with our online tools and network. Not only is it for my sake, but it’s also to protect and help my students be responsible with their actions when using the internet/network. Boston Public School An article from Kajeet expresses how Boston Public Schools (BPS) created an AUP that was student friendly with words that students could understand. I

Privacy on S ocial Media How important is privacy to you? Have you ever wondered what information social media platforms collect from you? Everyone’s privacy is extremely important because we would not want our personal information stolen and shared with others via our smart TVs and devices. The article from BuzzFeed made me realize why I see ads from shopping websites I visited earlier when I use social media. Last week, my siblings and I were discussing how everything that we see, such as pizza places or clothing stores, appeared as ads online. This made me think about what other information social media collects from us. The best thing is to know more about how we can protect our privacy. Therefore, it is important to understand the Terms of Services (ToS) and privacy statements to protect our children and everyone.   Why is it important? Our privacy is extremely important because kids, teenagers, and adults are using more and more technology. If we are not careful with o

Affective Growth Area I strongly believe I identify with the affective growth area. As a new educator, I feel supported with my team. While I was creating my concept map for this week, I noticed I had more information about my “current colleagues.” This is the area where I feel most supported and stronger. I have a mentor teacher who has helped in the past year. We reflect together and I have learned to learn from mistakes. At the beginning of my teaching career, I thought everything had to be perfect. However, these two years I have learned that sometimes things will not be perfect or work out in my classroom, and there is always room for growth. Additionally, I have a coach who helps me with strategies and observes me to see where I can grow as an educator. With my coach teacher, I feel emotionally supported and I feel more confident when I teach new materials.  My coach teacher always helps by providing great resources: websites, graphic organizers, and even this great peer review