BCoffin

My Digital Story: My Friend, Katie Jeanette Dean

Thank you for the opportunity and drive to motivate me to be more technologically savvy! Although this course was a lot of work, I enjoyed it! I believe that this course is far more valuable and worth more credits, than 2, but I will take it! Thanks for the fast pace, self-motivating directions, as well as the consistent follow up and feedback. It was a challenge and a nightmare at times, but well worth it in the end! I feel as though I have received just a taste of each tool; thus it will be my responsibility to go back and work through some of the most important tools in order to become an expert! Thank you!!

I do believe the world is changing for our students! Educators around the world need to consider the many shifts that our children are embracing and taking ownership of, daily! Today’s learners are reading online, rather than in books, listening to music in small devices rather than in groups on large broadcasting devices, learning from strangers around the world via the internet rather than learning from one’s immediate family and friends. Today’s learner is subject to so much diversity and flexibility, thus we must teach diversity and flexibility through modeling how to be a responsible yet interactive member of society, in person and technologically.

I particularly liked the Animoto, Slideshow, and iMovie tools! I loved making movies! I liked the idea of breaking down the project into manageable parts, accomplishing mini objectives, putting the pieces together, and ultimately producing a work of art! This is a skill and strategy that we hope our students are able to perform when they leave middle school; what a better way to teach them then in an interactive movie!? Additionally, I enjoyed the idea of using technology to create voicethreads that incorporate visual and auditory learning when working with students who suffer from learning and emotional disabilities. I look forward to incorporating some of these tools in my individual social work sessions with my students.

47/100… I am not sure I understand how I scored so low on this, but I did my best!

I liked watching the various YouTube videos and will be passing them along to our Student Skills teachers as a resource to share with students during our Bullying Unit. In fact, I will be co-teaching this unit on Monday! Thanks for the great resources. I will also add them to my website. I enjoyed taking the Digital Quiz but was not sure how I was being assessed and how I could have improved my LOW SCORE! Ahh, how come I support students each day in their ability to respond and manage these situations but I did not score well. To be honest, I felt pretty good about my answers. Any thoughts on this!? Oh well! Something to think about and reflect on…
I believe that all of us should be teaching this. We should take equal responsibility on teaching these concepts especially if we are expecting and encouraging our students to get involved in the technological and social networking world.

Here is an example of how school’s can support families in their fight against cyberbullying:

Facebook Manners and You:

Teachers and students on first-name basis

3News discussed the familiarity and informality behind students calling their teachers by their first names, verse the formality of Mr. or Mrs. XYZ. The article discusses the importance of using titles for those that are in charge, facilitating learning, or empowering students as a means to also educate and foster respect, authority, and appropriate boundaries. Some primary schools believe that a lack of a formal title, or just using a teacher’s first name, instills a sense of community between students and teachers. The sense of community is therefore important and critical to building an effective learning process. These same critics believe that respect and control do not result from a “title” but from the relationship itself. These are excellent questions…what is the purpose of putting a title before a name? What really builds respect, control, authority, and boundaries within an educational community!? As a social worker, I believe that both parties have some valuable perspectives! Personally, I prefer it when students’ call me Ms. Coffin!

Do you have any ideas for using social networking in your own professional or personal learning, or in classroom learning

When exploring Classroom 2.0, I spent a lot of time meandering in the “Where Do I Begin?” section, or the Beginner’s Group. I found it interested to read other’s perspective on how they became “hooked,” frustrated, and otherwise engaged in the learning process online. Some people shared where to get support for created online workshop, how to find tools for students, and ovearall, how to personally and professionally learn something new. Overall, I felt the site to be confusing and somewhat overwhelming. I did not understand where to go or how to get to a certain location within the classroom. I read a lot of about others’ experiences but wouldn’t know where to go to participate or share my own. I felt as though this exploration was one of the hardest thus far. Did I miss something!? I even read the “starting tips” section!

I would, however, like to explore more because if I understand social networking more, then I believe it could be useful for my 5th to 6th grade transition support services as well as transitions amongst middle schoolers, even in the same school. Students can share out what to expect, how to go about the different setting and overall, what tips and strategies they would like to share for the new school.

I have used Google Docs pretty regularly for about a year now. I love it! I have used Google Docs to do the following:
1. Participate in the D112 learning 2.0 class
2. Plan my wedding my sharing a google document with my fiance with all plans, people contacts, budget items, vendors, and other details.
3. Create and list Social Worker Vocabulary with fellow colleagues as a way to communicate and collaborate about a district initiative.
4. Keep track of, record, and collaborate with another colleague and the Student Council Secretary about Student Council member attendance.
5. Plan and offer feedback/reviews with my personal Ladies Book Club members as well as list the upcoming dates and books!
6. Provide teachers with ways to offer feedback and put information into a survey, such as Study Skills Surveys, Self Advocacy Expectations for Students, Friendship Group Survey, Student Self Advocacy Inventory, and a Daily Behavior Plan Check in for a student.

These are just a few ways that I have incorporated Google Documents into my professional and personal life. I particularly like the Live Form format and the ability to show and view a summary of all responses and provided feedback when allowing others to collaborate.

I do not have any documents that I can share at this time….

My discovered YouTube video:

This strategy is similar to BrainGym for children, which I use regularly with my students. The strategies truly do work if and when people put 100% into the stress relief strategy. Give it a shot!

Another discovered TeacherTube:

What caught my attention first, was the playing of “Enya,” which I play for my students when working on using music as a stress reducer. Isn’t this all so true! Just a friendly reminder to us all to take care of ourselves in order to be successful caring for children!

BCoffin Podcast

The act of creating, saving, converting, and downloading the podcast was both easy and fun! However, I was unable to post this on the D112Learning20 GCast shared account. Hopefully you find this and listen! Please listen to hear more about my ideas for podcasting with my students!

I have listened to fellow colleague podcasts and always enjoy them! For this course, I previewed several Doses Of Motivation By Clint Cora and several of the Ace Kids podcasts. Previously, I have listened to University Professor’s podcasts regarding upcoming mental health and brain chemistry research through iTunes. For example, I have listened to and subscribed to Brain Candy Brainstuff podcasts and Zencast, both of which I enjoy. Zencast talks a lot about how to be a better person, instill integrity and generosity when working with others, and how to empower yourself and others with such integrity, such as being truthful, gracious, etc. If nothing else, it is a dose of inspiration for the day. Also, I recently listened to a podcast on Autism, which I hope to share with one of my student’s who has Autism and is learning more about his disability.  Additional podcasts I found through “playing” for this course include LD Podcast, Autism One Radio, and The Naked Scientist. I played my student a web video 2 weeks ago about an individual who has Autism, which he thoroughly enjoyed. I look forward to sharing some of these additional tools with him- the kid friendly ones! I have not however created a podcast, which sounds like a challenge!