Monthly Archives: March 2019

Mar 25 2019
Leave a comment
Global Collaboration

Norms of Online Global Collaboration: “Be Prepared” and “Have a Purpose”

Within the text, “The Global Educator: Leveraging Technology for Collaborative Learning & Teaching” by Julie Lindsay, is a list of the “norms of online global collaboration” which are as follows:

  1. Be Prepared
  2. Have a Purpose
  3. Be able to Paraphrase
  4. Be able to Perceive
  5. Make sure you Participate
  6. Be Positive
  7. Be Productive
  8. Realize the Potential

For this blog post, I will focus on the first two, “Be Prepared” and “Have a Purpose”.

Before I go into the steps of preparing and having a purpose when it comes to a global collaboration lesson, I would like you to take a look at a few of these videos in which you can see the teacher and students effectively collaborating globally!

Be Prepared

As an educator, one of the most important parts of your job is preparation. Without adequate development of your units and lessons, you are bound to fail. This is quite the same when it comes to global collaboration. If you are planning to implement a global collaborator within your lessons, it is not as easy as just calling another teacher up across the globe. It is important that the educator has spoken far in advance with their partner to ensure that they are on the same page when it comes to the following: the tools they will be using, the content they are focusing on, the assignment they are working on, how many participants will join, what time zone they are working in, as well as any other details that are pertinent to the collaboration.

In order to be prepared, the two collaborators must use an effective form of communication. Some examples of this include email, text, Twitter direct messenger, facebook, Skype, and Google Hangouts. While communicating, both professionals must ensure they are using precise language that is clear, respectful, and easy to understand. One big issue when it comes to the preparation of collaboration that could make or break experience is whether the communication is effective or not. Here is a quick video on how miscommunication occurs.

Here is a link to some global collaboration tools that might make your life easier when planning these projects!

Have a Purpose

Of course, when planning a global collaboration it is important that you set a clear purpose. This is helpful for finding the correct collaborator as well as finding the right tools to assist your collaboration. Some ideas of purposes for your global collaboration can include:

  • teaching geographical skills by having a “mystery Hangout” on Google Hangouts with another class
  • teaching cultural information through discussions on FlipGrid
  • teaching a language through discussion over Skype

If you want more ideas for global collaboration ideas, click this link! 

Image result for globe

Let me know if you thought this post was helpful in the comments below and thanks for reading my blog!

Tagged , ,
Mar 25 2019
Leave a comment
Reflection

Article Response: “15 Characteristics of a 21st-Century Teacher”

After reading this great article titled “15 Characteristics of a 21st-Century Teacher” by Tsisana Palmer from Edutopia that I will link below, I decided to summarize her thoughts and breakdown in this blog post!

Click here to read this article for yourself!

Image result for "21st century"

In this article, Tsisana identifies fifteen characteristics of what she thinks a 21st-century teacher would be. I will list a few of my favorites and give my own descriptions as well as some media for your enjoyment! I would like to note again that this list was not created by me; however, the explanations are, I am merely appreciating and reflecting on Tsisana Palmer’s work!

Learner-Centered Classroom and Personalized Instructions

Also known as Student-Centered Learning, this is a type of teaching strategy in which the focus is placed on the students and not on the teacher. In this approach, the teacher is present to introduce the main ideas and current opportunities for the students to explore the topics further based on their interests. This approach has been shown to increase student intrinsic motivation as well as communication skills and transferable skills into the workforce.

Students as Producers

Tsisana describes how in today’s classrooms, instead of having students completing paper worksheets and written assignments to portray their knowledge, teachers should encourage students to create digital content such as blogs, videos, movies, infographics, and so much more! Here is a link to a list of 100 things students can create to demonstrate what they know. By getting rid of paper worksheets and written assignments and replacing them with assessment tools that have transferrable skills through technology, students are not only benefiting by learning the content, but also by gaining digital or creative skills.

Learn New Technologies

Teachers should be continually increasing their bank of knowledge when it comes to different programs and sites to be used in the classroom. The more exposure educators have with various modes of technology, the more choice they can provide their students with. Tsisana gave a link to www.lynda.com where educators can learn about new forms of tech.

Go Global

I have been learning about Global Education now for the past few weeks, and I find this to be one of the most important things new educators should be learning about. In integrating a global approach to our teaching style, we allow our students to gain an understanding of the world around them by interacting with it. Instead of reading about culture in China, students can actually speak to other students across the Globe and ask them questions directly. This style of teaching has benefits that are unending including communication, empathy, technology, and cultural awareness.

Code

Coding is becoming the language of the 21st-century, and so it is crucial that we are preparing our students for the jobs that will come with that. In learning to code, students are also increasing their understanding of computational thinking, and that skill can be transferred across the spectrum of subjects and professions.  Watch this video below on classrooms in England and how they are integrating coding standards into their teaching!

It is imperative to me as a future educator that I am helping my students develop the most useful skills following the times. These characteristics of a 21st-century teacher that Tsisana Palmer listed are great places to begin researching further to do just that.

 

Let me know what you think makes an educator “21st-century” in the comments below and thanks for checking out my blog!

Tagged , , , ,
Mar 11 2019
Leave a comment
Reflection

Let’s Reflect!

Over the past eight or nine weeks, I have gained so much new information about a number of different things. From the sustainable development goals to instructional technology, the knowledge I have gained is incredible! In this post, I decided I would reflect on this knowledge and include some links so you can gain from this bank of learning as well! In this post I will focus mainly on…

  • Computational Thinking
  • Twitter as a Personal Learning Network (PLN)
  • Blogging and its versatility
  • Global Learning

Computational Thinking

Computational thinking is a way of breaking down problems and is broken into more simple parts and then working through them to find patterns, similarities, and algorithms. Computational thinking can be broken down into four main steps:

  1. Decomposition: Breaking down a problem into smaller parts
  2. Pattern Recognition: Identifying trends or patterns
  3. Abstraction: Identify similarities and differences
  4. Algorithmic Design: Designing step by step instructions to be used for similar problems

Computational thinking is becoming a very important part of instruction in modern classrooms. Computational thinking prepares children for the science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics heavy occupations that are on the rise.

Computational thinking is so versatile that it can be implemented in all subjects across all grade levels! As long as the main idea of the four-step process stays intact, the teacher can differentiate it for each of their lessons. Watch this video to see how a teacher uses computational thinking in math!

As a future educator, I hope to become educated on how to implement this form of thought process in my own classroom so that my students will be well prepared for a world in which this style of thinking is in high demand!

Twitter as a Personal Learning Network

I have a previous blog post in which I reflected on my thoughts about Twitter and its uses as a learning space and I will link that here! However, I just wanted to include this in my post because I truly believe Twitter is a great place for future educators to learn about their craft and discuss relevant topics with other professionals. Because Twitter is so accessible, it allows people to communicate and learn from one another who might have never spoken to one another. This allows for greater global understanding on the part of educators as well which they can then use to educate their students.

You can follow my PLN journey here!

Blogging

Image result for blog

Throughout these past weeks, I have used this blog to learn and reflect on that learning. Being able to research and then write down your thoughts on a site is such a useful tool as it allows the content you are learning to become instantly relevant and accessible to others who might come in contact with your blog.

Blogging, however, is not only useful for a teacher or future teacher to learn about their profession and reflect on it but also for their students! Blogging as an instructional tool is one of the most interesting things I think I have learned in these past few months as I feel it teaches so many skills through one activity. By having students create their own blog, teachers can have students research and reflect on certain topics in their blog posts which then can be used as formative assessments. Teachers can also make their own blog posts with questions or assignments which students must comment their answers under. Teaching using blogs also allows students to become more conscientious commentators, readers, and writers as the words they are posting are visible to all.

Here are some videos of educators using blogging in their classrooms!

Here is a video on how to set up your own classroom blog!

Global Learning

Being a global learner and facilitating global learning in your classroom by being a global leader is becoming more important as the world is becoming more interconnected. Here is a quick video on global learning and its relevancy in the classroom

Learning about being a global educator is important as many issues and jobs that are on the rise require the ability to be connected and educated on a global level. In order to educate our students on what it means to be a global learner, we ourselves have to be one as well. Global learning involves understanding different perspectives, gaining information from sources outside our own community, and communicating with people from different communities and cultures. This can all be done within the classroom using effective technology and resources.

One large component of Global Education involves “flattening” the classroom walls. This can be done by using online technologies to create connections as well as generate a consistent workflow, communication, and collaboration between your students and students from around the globe.

Here is a video of a teacher discussion on how she implements global learning in all her lessons.

So what are your thoughts? Have you learned anything new this year? Comment down below!

Tagged , , , , ,
Mar 04 2019
Leave a comment
Cultural Awareness

Observing Culture Through Netflix

Have you ever heard of the term “people watching”?

For me, people watching meant sitting in a highly populated area where a lot of people would pass by and observing. My mom, dad, brother, and I used to always love to people watch at malls, on the boardwalk, at amusement parks, etc. What we were really doing is observing other’s culture and diverse social and personal actions! I feel that we as humans have a natural interest towards other people and how they function.

Another simple way to observe other cultures is through watching television and movies from other countries and in other languages! For this blog post, I chose to use Netflix to watch a television show in another language. After searching through their ‘international’ section, I found a show titled “La Casa de las Flores”.

Image result for netflix

Click here for a link to the show I watched!

“La Casa de las Flores” is a romantic comedy about an upper-class family in Mexico consisting of a mother and father and their three children who are now adults. The family comes together for a birthday party for their father and at the party, they discover that the mistress of their father has hanged herself in their flower house. The episodes continue with the family coping with this discovery of both the father’s infidelity as well as why his mistress killed herself.

Before I begin breaking down the episode I watched and discussing cultural differences and similarities that I observed, I want to include some videos that will give you some background knowledge on Mexico and it’s demographics and culture.

Before I begin noticing some similarities and differences in the culture of the characters of this show I have to make two comments about why these observations are unable to be generalized as typical Mexican culture. First and most importantly, this show is a Netflix romantic comedy/drama and so the events and reactions that occur within these episodes were made to be outlandish and overreactive. In this way, watching a Netflix show to observe true culture is not the best idea. However, through these shows, you are able to observe small cultural differences that may apply to some people in some parts of Mexico. The next comment I have to make is that the show is about an upper-class family coming from great wealth so some of the things I noticed may apply only to people of similar socio-economic status.

In the television show, I noticed that the family was extremely tight-knit and secretive. They did not like sharing their business with anyone outside of the direct bloodline and where careful as to taint their image. This could have been because of their upper-class standings and the fact that they were well known in the community. Another thing I noticed is that the family, especially the mother, was hesitant towards any of her children’s love interests. For example, one of the daughter’s had a fiancee who was an African-American man of middle-class socioeconomic background. The mother did not feel comfortable with him at a family gathering and was very judgmental about his choice of clothing. This also seems to be a result of the socioeconomic status of the family and their popularity in the community.

The one cultural difference I did take notice of occurred when the American man was greeting his girlfriend’s family. The family members told him that they greet by kissing one on the cheek rather than a hug as we would in America or two kisses as one might in Europe. This was interesting to me as I did not know that was typical to do in Mexican culture. However, this is still a television show and that occurrence could have just been placed to increase the differences seen between the family and this man or could have been a specific courtesy of this family or the region in Mexico that they are from.

After watching this show I observed very few differences culturally in social interactions when compared to that of Americans. The people seem to have similar social norms as those on television shows from America. The differences in culture mostly came from foods, music, and traditions. However, these cultural differences were not highlighted in this episode as it’s main purpose was to introduce the family and the mysterious death of the father’s mistress.

What are your thoughts about using Netflix or television shows and movies to observe cultural differences? What do you think are the dangers of doing so? Comment down below with your thoughts and thanks for reading the blog!
Tagged , ,