Madalyn Steiner

Anyone who chooses to be a “Global Educator” should be prepared to be a lifelong learner. Now, you might be wondering what exactly this means, what exactly you could be getting yourself into. Lifelong learners embrace the idea that learning can happen anywhere, anytime. Keeping an open mind when it comes to learning new things, even unexpectedly, is essential to becoming a remarkable educator. Come graduation, you should proceed through life with an optimistic outlook on learning- No matter what profession you choose to be in, you should never limit your ability to learn.

Those who plan to work in the education field should have already embraced this idea with idea arms prior to beginning practice. As time goes on and the world changes, concepts, theories and facts evolve. If you’re planning to be a history teacher, you shouldn’t put your learning to a halt when you’ve finished designing your lesson plans. You should be knowledgable beyond the material in the classroom. If a student were to ask you, a history teacher, a question about current events the student would likely expect you to know the answer or at least be able to provide some resources for further inquiries.

Lifelong learning reaches much farther beyond educational material. According to this article, the positive impact of lifelong learning is greater than the individual learner. The article states, “From an organizational perspective, learning is the foundation of operational excellence, continuous improvement, and innovation; and innovation and productivity increases strengthen our economy.”, insisting that lifelong learning is also the emphasis of ongoing personal growth and improvement.

Today’s teachers and educators have an advantage in the classroom like never before. As technology expands and evolves throughout the years, so does education. Technology grants educators creative and unique methods of teaching in their classrooms, as opposed to teaching out of a textbook. The Global Educator’s Toolbox carries a plethora of tools that teachers can utilize in a classroom to keep their students engaged and active throughout lesson plans. This blog post discusses one of those tools and how it can be utilized in a classroom.

The Remind App

Technology is so abundant that in most situations, either all students own a smartphone or an immediate family member does. This extreme rise of technology makes communication effortless in today’s world due to the abundance of mobile applications and networking sites. The Remind App can be useful for teachers to keep in touch with students or their families to ensure all parties of the classroom are on the same page at all times. In order to use remind, you just sign up for the app by creating an account and then you can instantly start getting text notifications. Text messages, emails and reminders can be sent out to individual people or a group.

A lot of teachers use Remind to do exactly that- Remind their class about upcoming assignments, current events, etc. Depending on the age of the classroom, teachers can send reminders straight to their students. A few of my college professors have used Remind in the classroom to remind us about homework, upcoming exams and canceled class dates. This was a simpler means of communication than email, in my opinion. Remind sends the text notification straight to your phone in real-time, as if it were to be a real SMS message. This was specifically vital to me in a couple situations. For example, if I was ever concerned about my grade in the class I was able to contact my professor immediately. If the age group of the classroom is younger, teachers can use Remind to bridge the communication between teachers and parents about what’s going on inside the classroom. Parents can easily set up the Remind App and utilize it to keep in contact with teachers just like students do.

Additional ways to utilize Remind in the classroom!

It’s no secret that technology has taken over schools all over the world. It offers extraordinary benefits to a classroom, as it allows students an entirely new and interesting way to interact. Realistically in today’s society, a majority of people own some kind of smart device, including students and teachers, and have access to one or more social media accounts. It’s important for teachers and school faculty to be mindful of how they utilize these tools as many schools have strict policies regarding technology and the use within and outside of school.

Posting About Work

It’s common for a lot of workplaces, not just schools, to have policies about posting to social media regarding work. It’s not comments like, “I’m having a stressful day at work today!”, but more so comments that threaten the reputation of the school or business. According to Social Networking Nightmares by Mike Simpson, one teacher was immediately terminated for posting a Facebook status that read, “I’m teaching at the most ghetto school in Charlotte”. A post like this is unprofessional, insensitive and unforgiving to come from a teacher, as not only does it violate everything an educator stands for but shames the district and those who attend.

Photographs

Just like anyone else, teachers often share their lives on social media. As this is perfectly fine, it’s important that teachers keep their photos PG. Regardless of the innocence intended by the picture, it’s better to be safe than sorry. In this specific situation, a teacher had photographs of her on Facebook from a trip to Europe in 2009. In two of those pictures, she was holding alcoholic beverages and a parent filed a complaint to the school board. She lost her job even though those photos were from several years prior and the woman was at the legal drinking age! According to the article, officials claimed her Facebook page “promoted alcohol use” and “contained profanity”.

Contact With Students

Having any kind of contact with students outside of the school’s resources is a massive no no. There should be no reason to be communicating with a student outside of the classroom, email and school provided web links. This is a universal restriction for teachers as it should go without saying. If a student were to ever reach out to a teacher on social media the teacher should immediately report the incident to keep themselves out of trouble. For instance, Brian Irwin was instantly terminated from his art teaching position in Ohio for failing to follow a directive that he reframe from having social media contact with a student.

Tips For Staying Safe Online

• Don’t post anything regarding work! You never know what can be taken out of context, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
• Steer clear from following students AND parents on social media.
• Make sure you’re comfortable with your privacy settings, try to go with the option where only your posts are visible to friends.
• Be mindful of the photos and captions you post! You’re supposed to be viewed as a role model to students in and out of school.

Thank you for reading my second blog post! Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!