Response #2 Webinar: Digital Citizenship

As I mentioned in my last post, digital citizenship seems to be one of the most important components to address with students before they ever handle technology. In her webinar, Terra Graves addresses the concept of digital citizenship and defines it as something that "helps teachers, technology leaders and parents understand what students should know to use technology appropriately." By establishing this culture in my classroom, I know will help my students to be prepared to use technology both inside and outside of the classroom. With the continuing rise of technology and its prevalence in our society, elements such as cyberbullying, privacy and security, and copyright laws are just a few examples of topics that students must be aware of before handling their devices so that they can be responsible tech users.

Students not only are able to learn the content when using technology, but having daily access to the internet in the classroom is also an opportunity to teach students about online safety and how important it is to limit the amount of personal information that they put on social media websites, etc. Graves provides links to videos that demonstrate those risks, which would be valuable to show to the students themselves. Internet privacy, passwords, and personal online connections are all important to mention when discussing digital citizenship. In my class, students will primarily be working on math apps and taking assessments on my new set of iPads for now, but in the future I would like to incorporate a class math blog into my curriculum. An online math blog would allow students to share ideas and methods over the internet, making internet safety and cyberbullying even more crucial topics to go over. Graves emphasizes how students need be aware of the fact that what they are posting online creates an image for themselves. Students need to know what respectful online posting looks like and how to encourage and help their peers through the media. It is clear that digital citizenship supports many dimensions of 21st century learning such as collaboration, skilled communication, and use of technology for learning.

This webinar gave a great overview of the components to include in my own behavior contract and expectations when using my classroom technology. It had many resources I could use to help my students understand safety concerns. I am confident my students will be able to gain the skills they need to be successful with technology and grow in their math skills, if they have a solid understanding of what appropriate use looks like!

Response #1 Webinar: Managing Your Classroom Technology

As a new owner of a set of iPads, I am excited and hopeful for the future of integrating different and new learning opportunities in my math classroom. Through this technology, I hope to enhance my own teaching abilities and engage my students in a way that makes them excited to do math and be problem solvers. With my excitement, also comes some reservations about all of the important details to consider when providing students access to technology. This first webinar provided great insight, tips, and tricks to preventing issues that arise with the technology itself, in addition to managing student's behavior. There were components of this webinar that had not crossed my mind whatsoever, such as having a "golden ticket" or master device that holds all of your apps. Simple ideas like this, I can already tell, are going to save me a lot of time and make incorporating tech into my classroom run as smooth as possible. 

Tina Holland made it clear in her webinar, that managing the technology is necessary in order for it to be successful in the classroom. Some major takeaways include: the need of having headphones for certain activities, numbering devices to hold students accountable, protecting the technology with cases and covers, updating the devices with the newest software, and having a means of tracking student data, activities, usernames, and passwords. When there are solid routines in place for the iPads and students can efficiently use them to learn, it makes the use of the technology much more enjoyable for everyone involved. 

My next step in towards introducing this new element to my classroom will be to create a technology contract. I believe that this was one of the most valuable tips from the webinar, because it is a written reminder and agreement that is in place to create a safe environment in which the devices are used to learn and grow in mathematics. I will hold my students responsible by having them and their parents sign a copy of the behavior contract, outlining their "digital citizenship" duties as students with technology and the rules and guidelines for using it in the classroom!

Hey there!

This your friendly Sparks Middle School math teacher speaking. I am creating this blog as a part of learning about 21st Century Practices and how I can use technology in my classroom! I hope to enhance student learning and engagement in the world of math and give more students opportunities for success by adding new tools and strategies to my lessons. I definitely want to embrace more technology in my classroom and integrate it into my student's daily lives. :)