Techie in Primary

Promotional Poster Copyright belongs to the film's distributor Image source:  http://www.impawards.com/tv/social_dilemma.html The Power of Social Media The internet has been a frontier for new forms of communication and connection. Now social media has become a permanent fixture in our daily lives and its influence is felt in nearly all daily activities.  We can establish communities, enhance our knowledge, and even find lasting companionship through various social media platforms.   However, all new frontiers come with inherent risks and pitfalls. Social media is very captivating and these companies are getting very rich off of its users.  These themes are explored in the 2020 Netflix docu-drama The Social Dilemma . This is a film that looks to unpack the darker side of social media. Using a combination of testimonials, expert commentary, and dramatic reenactments, it delivers its message at a time when social media’s influence is undeniable. What's the Message?...

Image by iStock/axel2001 What is Media Literacy? Media literacy is a term that describes a set of skills needed in order for individuals to access, understand, and decode media messages. This involves critical thinking skills, as well as having an understanding of how messages shape who we are and how information bias works. Media literacy does not just involve the consumption of media but the creation of it as well, which comes in a variety of forms and often combines text, images, video, or sound.  Why is Media Literacy Important? These skills are more important now than ever before in the 21st Century. It is estimated that the average person consumes over 7.5 hours of media in a day. What we know about the creators of media is that very few companies are in charge of a large percentage of the media we consume daily. According to Tech Startups 37 years ago 50 companies controlled American media but today 6 "media giants" control 90% of our media - what we watch, listen to,...

Photo by Allison Shelley for EDUimages is marked  CC BY-NC 4.0 CIPA and COPPA There are several federal laws that work together in an effort to keep children safe online. One is the Children's Internet Privacy Act, or CIPA. CIPA works to protect children from accessing obscene and harmful content on the internet by requiring schools and libraries to use internet filters. This law is tied to federal funding - in order for an institution to continue receiving federal funds that help pay for Internet and hardware, they have to use internet filters. I think that this law is effective in helping keep our students safe. At my school district we use Securly as a web filter in our schools. We have found this to be effective in catching students trying to access inappropriate content online. Another aspect of CIPA is  the  Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act which states that schools have extra requirements: "they must provide for educating minors about appropriate online...

" data privacy "  by  stockcatalog  is marked with  CC BY 2.0 . This week I've been exploring the topic of privacy. I don't know anyone who is not online in some way. For most of us, the online world is an integral part of our every day lives, whether we are using Google Maps to safely arrive at a destination, checking in with loved ones on a messenger app, or receiving an email from work. Whether you grew up on the internet or not we all need to be aware of what happens when we step foot online and give away information about ourselves. As an educator of young children I feel it is my responsibility to teach my students digital citizen skills, which includes navigating online spaces safely. These will be lifelong skills for this generation. It is also my responsibility to keep my students' data safe while they use school devices. This year we actually came across a problem with a popular literacy app called EPIC! not following Illinois'  Student Online Person...

" orang ramai " is marked with  CC0 1.0 . This week I have been reflecting on Professional Learning Networks, or PLNs. A PLN is a group of educators (that can exist outside your immediate bubble of colleagues) that you can connect and collaborate with to expand your professional learning. Social media has allowed educators to build diverse and expansive PLNs! Torrey Trust, who is a professor of educational technology, identified four different benefits of PLNs: social, affective, cognitive, and identity. You can check out her Thinglink to view videos explaining these benefits.  After watching her videos explaining these benefits, I've concluded that the cognitive growth I've received PLNs has impacted me the most. Thanks to PLNs, I have learned about methods and resources that I've been able to bring back to my students. These include behavior management strategies, new children's literature, tech tools, specific projects, and more. This has helped me to grow...

Hello, everyone! My name is Laura Rzewnicki and I'm a first grade teacher at a public school in Northbrook. This blog used to be titled "Techie in Kindergarten" but since I now teach first grade I decided to change it to "Techie in Primary." I have been teaching at the primary level for 13 years. I've always wanted to be a teacher and consider myself a lifelong learner. I'm really passionate about providing developmentally appropriate learning experiences to young children and fostering a love of literacy in all. A few years back I started teaching in a 1:1 device setting and that inspired a love of teaching with technology (which is sometimes easier said than done with kindergartners and first graders). I'm really excited to be taking my ninth educational technology class at Dominican University. I started this journey with the intention of getting my technology specialist endorsement but decided to keep going and earn a masters degree. I have my cr...

Social Media This week in Edu 776, I learned about using social media in the classroom and reflected on my own use of social media. I read David Geurin's blog post 7 Reasons to Use Social Media in Your School . Here is his awesome infographic that summarizes his points. Infographic from DavidGeurin.com Social media is definitely not going away and to ignore it as an educator is to do a disservice to our students. Through my reading of various articles this week, one point was really hammered home: social media is generally safe for our students! Our students are more likely to be abused by someone they know in their real lives than they are to be attacked online. I think that teachers can feel comfortable using social media in our classrooms. Teachers can guide our students to make good choices, show them how to be responsible, but help them to see it as a great tool for learning and sharing. I think the opportunity to make connections outside of your building is one of ...

What are Digital Spaces? Digital spaces are the online tools, resources, media, and social networks that people use in their daily lives. The author David White came up with the terms digital resident and digital visitor as terms to describe how people interact with digital spaces. A visitor uses an online tool to accomplish a task or gain a piece of information and then goes on their way, not leaving a trace behind. A resident, on the other hand, is online to connect and interact with other people and they are more visible. A resident will leave a "footprint" behind, perhaps a blog post or comments, while visitors do not. People are usually a mix of both resident and visitor, depending on which digital spaces they are using, their preferences, and their habits. Also, the resident and visitor descriptors exist on a continuum, so individuals can exist somewhere in the middle as well. According to David White's website , a visitor and resident (V&R) mapping activit...