Reflection Blog Post #1: Media Literacy
Explain your feelings after this first week of class and establish one learning goal for the course.
I am feeling a little overwhelmed after this first week of class. There are some aspects like making our own classroom website that I am still uncertain about. Luckily we have a check in with our professor later this week so I will be able to ask my questions! One learning goal I have for this course is to be more confident in my technology abilities. I have been fortunate and not had to experience online learning yet so any resources to make this transition easier, the better!
Describe your initial thoughts about the tool, Slack. Do you see how it could be used in your own teaching practice? How might you use it, or why might you not use it?
I like Slack! I find it a great way to get information out to everyone or to a certain group of people. I do not see myself using Slack in my teaching practice however at least not for this upcoming school year. The school that I will be teaching at is very "old school" and I do not see my fellow colleagues wanting to make this shift to a new resource. Everyone at this school seems to be set in their ways and I have a feeling I will be spending this year not trying to step on anyones toes. Even though I like all the features of Slack, it seems to me, everything I can do in Slack, I can do in an email.
Share one question or concern you have about the class.
One concern I have about this class is the few times we met. I am afraid that I will not understand an assignment through reading the instructions but I know I will have the Slack access to ask any questions I have.
Hey there, I am with you on bettering my confidence in dealing with technology. I look forward to building my skills related to all things tech. I have never built a website either but do look forward to seeing the result.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to post a question. So, with that, why do you feel that using technology like Slack in your own classroom will be negatively received by other teachers? It seems to me that it might be easier and more age appropriate then sending emails to students.
ReplyDeleteHi Joe,
DeleteI believe having a new resource like Slack might overwhelm my new colleagues, however I am making an assumption about them but maybe they would be interested! I am also teaching 2nd grade so I don't really see myself using Slack as a form to communicate with my future students. However, I could see using Slack as a way to communicate quick informal updates to my parents!
Hi Cathryn,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on feeling a little overwhelmed - the idea of building a website is daunting! But it seems like you have a good attitude about it! Since the school you are in is "old school", maybe you could try introducing one new tech tool this year that is really useful and win your colleagues over that way!
Hi Jessica!
DeleteYou make a great point about being able to introduce something new to my school! As much as I don't want to step on toes, maybe having a new "bright eyed" employee will help enhance our school! I am excited to see where this new opportunity will take me!
You make a great point about your school being "old school". I think that will tend to be the case for our whole teaching careers due to the fact that there are 22 year old teachers all the way to 65 year old teachers. Lots of room for technology to advance or catch on in different ways. One question that I have is what would happen if you tried out the new tool with a certain group of teacher friends that you have? Maybe you could be the testers in trying out new tech in your school.
ReplyDeleteHi Jacob!
DeleteI never really thought of our teaching careers being that drastic in age differences but you are right! Even when we become the veteran teachers there will still be 22 year old new teachers being hired. That is also a great suggestion to trial run the new tool with some teacher friends and then if it works introduce it to my new school!
Hi Cathryn! Sorry it's late, I had some issues with the tech, which was to be expected. I haven't experienced fully online courses either. I am finding it much harder to balance everything! I agree that Slack is nice, but I also think there are other tools that seem to work easier in my experience. Have you used Classroom Dojo? It is what my mentor teacher used and It seemed pretty easy to use. I don't know what it is about Slack, but something puts me off to it.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm glad we are in this together. You are so ahead of the game, you are going to do so great!
If you did want to use some different tech tools such as those we will be learning about in class, are you going to feel comfortable using them independently of the rest of the school? Are you thinking you are going to stick with whatever tools they have or try some things out yourself? Maybe introducing some new tech to the school would be seen as helpful rather than stepping on toes? It does depend on the school though.
Thank you for sharing!
Hi Alyse!
DeleteI have never used Classroom Dojo but would love to check it out and see if it would work well in my 2nd grade classroom. I would like to try and use the tools my school currently uses but I am also willing to try new web tools too!