September 13, 2019

Blog Post 1

My first ever Blog post, I am both nervous and excited. My research to find an Educational Technology or Global Collaboration article and responding to it; This had me thinking, about how and where to start. I took on this topic in three ways and pieced those three together. I decided to begin in a home setting where the parents/guardians are the first to engage WITH their children. Parents are the first to know how a child can learn different ways, listen for different cues, and communicate their wants and needs. If we can ‘BUILD’ a reliable, fun, playful, and safe FOUNDATION our future children may be better equipped as they move into the classroom or world settings.

Technology At Home:

I found some wonderful posts about young ones engaging with tablets and tech devices. These all seemed the same until I stumbled upon the LEGO logo. The Lego brand can stop you in your track catches your eye. The brand also has a natural history with positive aspects that I thought would lead me in a good direction. A child’s imagination ignites and as a little one year old realizes throwing blocks means he/she must pick them up, they might decide to change the pace and BUILD something instead. My son is eight; He still enjoys playing,stacking, and creating with the blocks. At the beginning he would just throw them, so how does he learn to play, stack, and build? Some let their young one figure it out on their own, some do it for them, but what if there was a way to find a happy medium? This article here was a great read and following the article I decided to give it a whirl with both of my kids.

Cori-isms about the article:

• Just to summarize the focus of the article from my eyes. It states that the partnership between a simple Lego company and a simple EdTech company can make something magical for children and their families. This is the key to my first article found and begins the DOMINO effect- the connection between family and technology while learning and having fun; Yes, all at the same time! What could be better than that? So, how can you dive into this and read no more and just play? I listed below the link to an app from EASY PEASY that will guide you to a “HOME for Playful Parents where you can Discover*Create* Play * Share.” That came right from Easy Peasy’s motto or logo from their page and speaks for itself.

 
Click the Image and Build/ Explore the App!

•  I encourage you to share your time with your little ones or your class. Then if you could share your thoughts and your personal experiences after using this or relating it to another app/ tech feature that may be similar that would be greatly appreciated.

MY Personal Experience & Feedback

I did try this with my daughter and decided to share my experience with you all. She is only eleven months mind you, but she does her best to keep up with her big BRO.

Game: Tower
Race

Object:
counting confidently (2-5years)

My Object
because of my daughter’s age(11months): getting her to have fun, while learning
to share, watch and try herself, not giving up, listening to numbers while
Mommy counts, listening to colors as Mommy says the color, Giggling!

 Trial 1: She listen and interacted- she babbled and placed toys on top of one another or “shared” with me (Mom) so that I could help build for her. She enjoyed watching the “tower” get bigger. 

Trial 2: She took the block herself and showed me where to put the block this time. Her eyes would light up once the tower continued to grow again.

Trial 3: My son joined in on the fun. This time he played the role of the other person and she watched. She also tried to take it all apart and knock it over before he finished the tower this started a Lego War. The point is we tried, and we did have fun. We took a break and will continue to tweak the way we do things for next time. It will not always be rainbows and sunshine. The fact is I was just happy my two little ones wanted to start working together and by the end it got a little much. It takes patience and time with your children and the more playtime you share the more they will start doing things on their own and play and learn without you near. You can start with the spark and then let them light up when they do it all by themselves. 

After finishing with the App I kept clicking around and of course found many more interesting facts about Educational Tech resources for future children and their families on Easy Peasy’s website. This recently made article was written by Andy Russell on July 12, 2019 titled Lego & Easy Peasy Relationship. Click Below for the article described.

http:///stories/lego-easypeasy-press-release#

My take away from the EASY PEASY article with Legos:

• The more we interact and show our little ones that we can use our devices to laugh and communicate our thoughts, feelings, and grow/ learn they will become better equipped at BUILDING relationships and learning skills in their BRAVE, BIG, & BRIGHT Futures. No matter the environment or social class Lego can Bridge people together and become a toy that any Mom or Dad or Guardian or Teacher can use within a Playtime/ Learning moment. The biggest take away at the end of the article I took was being able to use this in any community or setting. With one simple click it opens the door to helping ANYONE teach a small color, number, size, emotional, physical, mental skill. He also provided a beautiful quote by Dr. Paul Ramchandani.

“Play is the language of childhood, it is how children explore and understand their world. It is the primary way which children hear about and interpret life around them. Evidence shows that providing opportunities for all children to play supports their social, language and emotional development and allows them the opportunity to fulfill their potential. Investing in play and the life of children is an investment like no other.”

Professor of Play in Education, Development and Learning at Cambridge University, Dr. Paul Ramchandani

Technology in the Classroom Setting:

I’d like to start this by saying you are about to become so in love with this NEXT article/ post I recently found on Twitter. I must also add that I am A Newbie to the Twitter World and still navigating my way through the many hashtags, tweets, edchats, etc. But this post made my whole face light up with happiness. Before I continue, I encourage YOU to click the VIDEO below to get the Vibe I did.

Cori-isms about the video I just shared:

• So cool. I love that post. FlipGRID is used not only in my Global Educator Web class- BUT in REAL classrooms all over.

• Speaking from a Students’ view- this is absolutely so fun to record and use technology for what it is intended for, HAVING FUN, surprising your parent or guardians, and seeing your friends just by hovering your phone over a code.

• Speaking from a PARENT’s view- OMG LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE! Did I mention that I love this? I can see my child engaging in their class and ENJOYING it. This is what and how I want my child to learn!!! If you are a Parent Please share your thoughts. I could just picture my little boy in third grade doing this and me crying with HAPPY tears saying AHHHH he is getting so big and loving school. This is a BACK to school night that I would NEVER FORGET.

• Speaking as the Teacher’s view- YES GIRL you DONE DID IT!!! WITH A CLAP and a HIGH FIVE! You did what we all desperately want- to get the kids engaged & you had a BONUS hit because the PARENTS were WON over too!!!!! Any thoughts on how you could use this in your classroom differently other than for a back to school night? Or for back to school night but the child’s guardian cannot make it? Think about all the angles you could use this for in all the situations you may have to face as an educator.

I had to give major credit to the Genius behind the camera and behind the idea of this Amazing video.

• “The Aloha Teacher,” or Gretchen Romerdahl is the brilliant woman. I cannot empathize this enough- SHE is BRILLIANT. OK. This teacher has five certifications, twenty-eight professional developments courses, and five certs under her belt; She has been recognized with seven awards and most were from being rated HIGHLY EFFECTED on Educator Effective Systems. The Aloha Teacher has paved a way for herself and is a pure example of how I would like to conduct some of my classroom management skills, social skills, TECH skills, and creative skills. This is an educator that continues to inspire many others including the social media followers that may have retweeted or commented on this post since she had it up on her account. She had 74 retweets and about 330 likes on just this video post alone. On Instagram she had about 187 views and the previous post about her Open House Classroom Tour had about 215 views. I believe she has SO MUCH to offer and with these ideas and the sharing of information we can all cheer on our network of educators for all the GOOD and positive work they are doing. So BIG SHOUT OUT to the Aloha Teacher!

• Check out some of her information and give some Positive Feedback where it is deserved.
• Her Twitter account is https://twitter.com/thealohateacher
• Her professional website is http://thealohateacher.weebly.com/

These are some wonderful resources about her and how “She Does Her Teacher Thang.”

How can we jump to the next part after both of those interesting
finds? If you are not sure if you can handle any more of my rabbling; just
scroll or skim through to get to the juicy links and use those to help your
career. No hard feelings just here trying to give insight on how we can use all
these tools that are being shared through the Web in a positive and better way.

Technology in GLOBAL Learning:

Global sounds like such a small world for such an enormous amount of love, beauty, and the colors of blue and green (and of course so many more worldly wonders). How can one person reach so many with just one click? It’s so simple- sometimes too simple because once something is on the World Wide Web it stays there and gets passed along and in split seconds it has reached, the world. This article I had found was an interesting read. This concept found a way to be able to reach more people from something old, or borrowed, (it could be blue), or something brand new. A book, a novel, a poem, or any piece of writing approved by this website can be shared. I do believe it is mostly books for classrooms, but the owner has mentioned you could share to others in multiple settings such as in college, in kindergarten, alone, or professionally.

Cori-isms about how a Global Project is Important for All:

• This link says it all. A “Read Aloud’ program designed just as simple as the domain but holds so much more than a simple task. The reading is just something to relate to, then it branches off into another cultural aspect, town, community, belief system, class system, etc. How can you relate to a book? What could you have in common with another class all the way across the world? How would others react to the main characters or places visited in the story? Can someone describe the setting and the smells and the noises just the same or help you vision it better? Maybe another can feel the same way instead of feeling differently even though the distance between you and the society around you both are different. We can consider so many questions and activities for our students or create just a better understanding of the rest of the world if we listen to one another. This can start a conversation and continue a lifelong friendship or way of networking in your future career. How do I use this right you might ask? Click on The Global Read Aloud underline word text and link to the GRA(global read aloud) website.

THE GLOBAL READ ALOUD

Cori-isms about the GRA:

• Guess what? It is free. Yes, insert Turbo Tax commercial Quote here- “Free, Free Free free free FREE.”

• Pernille Ripp is the creator of the page and is an angel on Earth. She started in 2010 with a simple goal in mind; one book to connect the world. 

• After you read through her page and tabs,(found on the link above).You can find everything from which tech devices many use, accounts such as twitter, Facebook, and more(maybe now flip grid would be one to keep in mind). Wink, wink. After you have those and book you would like to share, reach out and explore places you think would be a good match or ask others for recommendations.
• Pernille Ripp goes into detail that many questions asked can be found by networking with former people who have already used her site. For example,she has her own Pinterest account that can serve as a guide for some projects for your class to participate in while doing this activity.
• Make this Lesson FUN. Don’t call it a lesson; Start off by saying “It’s that time class, let’s start our Fun-Global Sharing.” Your class will become less worried and more excited to talk/share to their new friends wherever that may be.

In Conclusion: Educational Technology can BENEFIT all!

• My first blog may seem too long- but this topic opened so many doors into the large EdTech World that I never knew before. I found many educators that I could follow and get MAJOR inspiration from. I hope that all of you can do the same with some links provided and some feedback from all my Cori-isms. I found ways that you can use technology at home with young ones or older, within the classroom engaging parents and the school community, and lastly on a global level through a simple book. The Lego Easy Peasy App and articles helped me with my own children. The Flipgrid Open House phenomenon that blew the parents, kids, staff and even yourself away. The Fun- Global- Sharing tool from a FREE website called “Read Aloud,” that connects the world together one page at a time. All these wonderful ideas, creators and educators have given us platforms to start conversation all with some form of Technology.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy lives and if you have read this far, I
apologize for the ranting and my grammar errors. I just wanted my first
“Research” Blog to come from the heart and leave an imprint. I wanted this to help provide different ways of looking at the POSITIVES of technology and the creators behind them. 

For more Cori-isms
and interesting reads stay connected with me on twitter and on my Future Blog
Posts. Thank you again for the wonderful support.