technology in the classroom

Synopsis of Case Studies Within the Global Educator

The very first cast study mentioned at the end of Chapter 13 of The Global Educator was Case Study 4.1- Lucy Gray and Steve Hargadon: The Global Education Conference. According to our textbook, the conference was created by the two individuals. This conference is meant to bring together students, educators, and all different types of organizations in order to spread “cultural awareness and recognition of diversity and educational access for all” (The Global Educator, pg. 229). Ideas for the creation of said conference sparked at Edubloggercon. A gathering of educators sat together to discuss and create “a new paradigm for learning using emerging educational technologies” (The Global Educator, pg. 229). Steve Hargadon acted as the organizational leader of the group and would lead the events that would soon take place. Those who were involved in the commencement of this conference had stated that being apart of such a collaborative group of like-minded educators was exciting and refreshing. The video embedded is our Lucy Gray, one of the co-founders of this conference and she explains the conference more in-depth.

Next mentioned was Case Study 4.2- The “Learning2” Conference. Learning2 took a long time and a lot of hard work to productively come together to form what it is today. Jeff Utecht had a vision and worked hard to have others “jump on board.” Apparently, Jeff’s original ideas are still expanding to this day through the new non-profit organization status” (The Global Educator, pg. 231). Glocalization was an important step for Learning2 but also a difficult one. The original Learning2 event had helped organization and educators greatly expand their networks.

Thirdly, Case Study 4.3- Think Global School: Learning to Be Global While Living Globally. “THINK Global School (TGS) moves around the world and implements place-based learning to its fullest extent’ (The Global Educator, pg. 231). In other words, this “program” moves from place to place to help globally educate their own students. Think of it as a school on wheels! 12 teachers and approximately 60 students up and move to different environments each semester in order to broaden their learning capabilities. Also, this school is considered to be very technologically centered and each students and teacher has a Macbook, Ipad and Iphone. I thought this was the most interesting study, because it is just so unique. A school that moves each semester to a completely new place? How exactly does that work? How are kids able to up and leave their families, or do their families relocate for the semester also?

The fourth study, Case Study 4.4, is entitled Peggy George and Wesley Fryer: The K12 Online Conference. “The k12 Online Conference is a free, online, annual event and is run totally by volunteer educators” ( The Global Educator, pg. 233). I think it is totally amazing that individuals are willing to give up their free time and extend their abilities in the form of volunteer education. The events purpose is to bring individuals together so that everyone can share ideas and new modes of virtual learning. The video they had used in their conference have become popular in the educational archives of professional learning. These videos inspire discussion on ideas for future learning and teaching opportunities. The video embedded is one of the presenters who participates in the K12 Online Conference, just to give an example of the formatting of the conference and what it is like.

Next is Case Study 4.5- Our Global Friendship. “Our Global Friendship is a small virtual community of global collaborative educators” (The Global Educator, pg. 233). Its purpose is to encourage the practice of learning both with and from all the other educators in the world. Its goals are to “bring together a disparate group of educators who, through their passion and vision, design and implement global projects that often include many other educators and classrooms” (The Global Educator, pg. 233). Although this case is amazing, they had describe it are highly unique and futuristic. When reading this case study, my very first thought that that this sounds like all the other studies. They all share a common goal of bringing educators together.

For this reason, I am going to stop giving the synopsis for each Case Study, just so that it does not become overly repetitious. I highly suggest to those who have not heard of these case studies before, to check them out, either online or through the use of the Global Educator textbook. I also suggest reading the other 5 case studies, because they are all inspiring and interesting. As future educators, or if you are already an educator, I think it is our job to be highly conscious of everything that happens in the educational community.

What HASN’T Gen2108 taught me? That’s the real question..

I feel as though, as a class, we can all agree how much we have learned from taking this course. I have be introduced to ideas that never once crossed my mind. I will be honest, before taking this class, I truly question my ability to become a teacher. I never knew if I would be good at it. With the work that we do in the class, my opinion has completely changed. Each and every weekly activity we participate in, has truly helped me feel more confident as a future educator. Making presentation and lesson plans allowed me to prove to myself that I can do this! Focusing on presentations for the moment, I wanted

to mention how before this class I though PowerPoint’s were my only option. I have now learned that there are so many different directions I can go in regards to making a presentations. I can make a presentations with a voice over, I can use google slides, I can use Prezi(https://prezi.com/), Emaze(https://app.emaze.com/mypresentations), Popplet(http://popplet.com/), etc. I am positive that when I become a teacher, I will be using all of these different platforms. I learned that I can turn social media into a educational place. I love using twitter to connect with educators across the globe, and I think beyond this class I will continue to use my twitter as such.

Also, I really love our textbook because it allows us to connect with educators via their twitters or blogs. Most chapter use quotes from these individuals and then

leave their twitter handles at the end, so that we can easily follow them and connect with them. I like how our textbook uses real-life personalities rather than people that are less obtainable, meaning we would not be able to actually

par-take in discussions with them. I can easily find these people on twitter and messaged them or reply to one of their posts and 9 times out of 10 I will get an encouraging and friendly response.

Subsequently, I learned about websites like EDPuzzle, Edmodo, and Diigo. I really enjoy these websites and I think they work really well in the classroom setting. It is interesting to see us as college students using them, and then see that children much younger than us are engaged in these sites, and even adults older than us are using them as well. I find all of the sites a lot of fun to use and I know I will be using them in the future as well.

Minus One- A Russian Melodrama

I watched Episode 1 of the Russian t.v series “Minus One.” This series is about a married couple whose marriage is beginning to struggle. Though I am unsure of what city or town this series takes place in, the setting looks very similar to New York City. The streets are full of walking pedestrians and there is traffic, which is why is reminds me so much of NYC. It seems like some people travel by car and taxi, but a lot of the places these characters visited, such as the park, were all in walking distance. During this episode it is a spring or summer day considering the warm and sunny weather. I’m assuming it is sometime between May and August, considering those are when it it most warm in Russia, just like America.

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I have found that this show displays a lot of similarities between Russian and American cultures, though there are slight differences. From watching the first episode, I have gathered that gender roles are put into place in Russia. The man must be chivalrous to the women and he must also be the “breadwinner,” as the man male character had said in this episode. The episode sort of portrayed women as domestic beings. In America, women stopped all being “stay at home moms,” and were allowed to get jobs for themselves decades ago. In Russia it seems like they are a few decades behind. Women still rely on their husbands income to survive. Another cultural value I noticed these characters had was the sense of family. Family is seemingly the most important thing to these people. The husband, Vasia, helps his sister financially but this angers his wife Lena.

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This leads to my next topic of social/financial class. It is very important to the wife, Lena, that her family is financially stable and that their public image is upheld. When the family’s washing machine breaks, Lena is embarrassed by the fact that he husband wants to save money by hand washing the items. She fears this makes them look poor and that people will notice their children have dirty clothes. The wife is also turned off by the fact that he husband is unable to fix the machine himself, and she seeks help from another man to do the job. Her husbands lack of “hand skills,” deems him “less than.”

Also, I noticed a theme of how you are not meant to oppose your problems to other people. In Russia, you are meant to keep your problems, whether they’re marital or what have you, to yourselves. The wife often speaks of how it is “improper” to involves strangers in your business. However, in America I feel as though everything is open to asking for help and we view that value as more of a communicative idea. We believe it is good to help each other, while in Russia it is more frowned upon and deemed “embarrassing” to have to ask for help.

The final thing I noticed about the cultural aspects of Russia in this episode is that creative work is not encouraged. The husband wants to build a kindergarten, but that is too big of a financial risks and is frowned upon. Throughout this episode the wife uses the word “dreamer” negatively. She tells her daughter that she should not dream unrealistically. She also searches the internet for psychiatric Dreamer help for her husband who is a dreamer.

What I gathered from this episode is that America is a bit more “open” than Russia. What I mean by this is that we follow must of the same social constructs and “rules” but I feel as though our people are more free to do as they please. In America it is quite popular to break down certain barriers, like gender barriers for example, and in Russia they seem to still be in place. Russians, at least from what I’ve gathered from this t.v show, care more about what their people think of them. American culture is beginning to mold around the idea of “do whatever you want.”

How to Inspire Your Students

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A topic that truly sticks out to me, is the idea of inspiring students. I find it hard to feel inspired, especially in the educational setting. School nowadays is very one-toned. Everything is the same. Everything is very uniform. You show up to class and repeat a daily routine. What about this routine is inspiring? As a student, wouldn’t you be more inspired and excited to learn if you were doing something different every day? I think teachers need to realize there is no perfect way to teach. Each person is unique, and as a teacher you need to use your uniqueness to bring out the best qualities in your students. As educators, our goal is to inspire students to be the best versions of themselves. Our goal is to inspire them to reach their own goals! In the textbook “The Global Educator,” Diane (a U.S teacher) says that she aims to “inspire (her) students to change the world or to at least make a positive different” (pg. 63). Another idea to think about, is the fact that maybe the teacher is uninspired, thus causing a spiraling effect. We, as teachers, must have passion for our jobs. Children can tell when a teacher is uninterested in his or hers students educations. I’ve had plenty of teachers who could care less if their students passed or failed. In order to inspire, you must be inspired.

I found the following article extremely thought-provoking: http://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/what-are-you-going-to-do-to-inspire-students/. This article creates a conversation. Whose fault is it when there is a lack of inspiration in the classroom? The teachers or the students. Honestly, it is both parties fault. I love how real this article is when discussing how hard it is to be an educator. Nothing is sugar coated. You will have hard days, and their will be times when all your effort goes unnoticed. Also, this article leaves the reader with some important questions. Where does one find inspiration? How does one stay inspired? Finally, how are you going to inspire your students?

Digital Tools: Edmodo

The tool I’d like to talk about is called Edmodo (eedmodo.com). In the Global Educators toolbox, located on page 26 of the Global Educator, Edmodo is displayed under the Community & Social Media category. The tools in this classification revolve around the common use of sharing blog posts, discussions and multimedia. On the Edmodo website, founders describe their site as “a global education network that helps connect all learners with the people and resources needed to reach their full potential” (edmodo.com/about). According to the textbook, Julie (a present educator) uses Edmodo for global community building. She also explains that Edmodo is “excellent …for different purposes and age groups” (The Global Educator). Edmodo the perfect website for technological learning/teaching because it can be used for assessments, as well as peer-review and writing exercising, etc.

In the linked video, a teacher from Pee Dee Elementary school discussing how she implemented Edmodo into her classroom. At one point in the video, the teacher spoke about how more shy students and student who did not like to respond began enjoying to participate when using Edmodo. She also went on to say how Edmodo really aided in creating a sense of community in her classroom. Discussions were stronger and better because children actually liked to contribute. A lot of times we see a handful of students who are quite and typically make no real offerings during class discussions, but Edmodo is able to help eliminate that. One of the interviewed students in the video said that he liked Edmodo because he is able to help other students who are struggling with whatever topic they’re discussing in class that day. Technology is extremely popular in this day and age and using it in the classroom is the smartest idea!

Edmodo’s website actually links multiple “mini-lesson plans” for teachers to use to help them integrate Edmodo into their classrooms. By visiting https://support.edmodo.com/hc/en-us/sections/200909844-Mini-Lessons, you can find over 10 short lesson plans for quick and fun activities using Edmodo! For example, the New Year/Holiday Activity (file:///C:/Users/caitd/AppData/Local/Temp/10EndofYear_HOliday-1.pdf) lesson plan uses Edmodo to engage students in online discussion. In this activity, students log on to Edmodo, joining an assigned group, and post about their academic resolutions for the New Year! The teacher can also throw in extra credit for students who actually succeed their goals! The second activity involves assigning a new group for the class and taking polls on the “best and worst moments” of the year. Again, this really helps to engage the students with one another. They can share common interest or dislikes, make friends, and all in an educational online setting!

YOU’RE FIRED

Red "Fired" Stamp — How to get fired when technology’s involved

Is technology in the classroom a good or bad thing? That all depends on how the technology is being used. As long as computers, cellphones, etc are being put to proper use in the classroom, then there should be no problem with their presence. Technology in schooling should be used for educational purposes only. However, if these things are not being used properly by staff and students, then your job may be at risk!

If teachers are using social media, things can get exceptionally tricky. It is so very important that educators, or any professional for that matter, are careful with what they post on the internet. In the Global Educator, a collaborative learning and teaching book, the author explains that an educators presence on social media is acceptable but only if they are being careful with what they say! I understand social media is generally used to express likes/dislikes, and feelings but as a professional you need to kept your site professional! I found an ABC news article, http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/facebook-firing-teacher-loses-job-commenting-students-parents/story?id=11437248, in which a teacher is fired for misuse of technology. Unfortunately, June Talvitie-Siple, a Massachusetts high-school teacher, broke this professional boundary by posting about her students and their parents on her Facebook wall. What a huge mistake! According to the article, June “was forced to resign … after parents spotted Facebook comments she wrote describing students as “germ bags” and parents as “snobby” and “arrogant” (abcnews.go.com). The teacher tried to stand by what she did, saying that she thought her Facebook was private so only friends and family could see what she was saying. Even if that was the case, it is never okay to bad-mouth your students on the internet!

Lately in media, I have seen a large amount of videos going around where teachers are being caught on camera doing/saying unthinkable things to their students. For a long time, there was a video going around of a teacher fighting one of their students, also there was one of a gym teacher dragging one of his students into a pool; unfortunately the list goes on and on. Through the usage of cellphones in the class, students are able to video tape/record anything and everything. Through the use of apps such as Snap Chat, they can take a video and post it immediately for the internet to see. In Baltimore, a teacher was caught getting verbally aggressive with one of her students and she actually began making racial slurs at the child. The video starts with her screaming at a student, and ends with her calling her kids stupid, and the N-word. To watch this monstrosity of a video and read the Baltimore Suns article, you can visit: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/bs-md-ci-teacher-video-20161117-story.html. Although this teacher 100% deserved to be fired, if she was not caught doing this vulgar act, no one would have proof of how she treats her students. Cellphones in the classroom will certainly get you fired if you act equivalently to this teacher.

My last example of how to get fired does not involve an article, but more-so a personal experience. In high school, I had a specific teacher who obviously did not care much about her job nor her relations with students. Whenever she did not want to teach, she would have us play board games instead. As we played games instead of learning, she would surf the internet. She would be on Facebook, YouTube, or she would be playing games like solitaire, etc. The principle came into our classroom one day, but the way our classroom is set up there was a front entrance and a back entrance. My teachers desk had its back towards the back entrance so if someone came in quite enough she would not be able to tell. Needless to say, our principle was in shock by the obnoxiously loud classroom, where no work was getting done, and the teacher with head phones in watching YouTube videos. She did not have ten year, so she was fired and replaced by someone new. As educators we need to remember that technology is not always our friend!