Techie in Primary

Image source:  https://teamreddot.com/video-content-creation-for-your-brand / This fall I am finishing up my Technology Specialist degree with a course on video creation and production in the classroom. This was an interesting class to end my time at Dominican University with because it really pushed me to do things that felt new and uncomfortable.  I learned that video creation can be time consuming and requires problem solving skills. You need to make a plan for yourself and figure out all the tools you will need. You need to write an outline of how the video will progress, different slides or images that will be used, information that will be shared, and shots you will want to include. When using new software and hardware, one has to  problem solve and learn as you go. There are so many resources online that can help you with this. I learned to use several new video creation apps. One was Green Screen by Do Ink. This is a kid friendly video app that allows you to creat...

" student_ipad_school - 131 "  by  flickingerbrad  is marked with  CC BY 2.0 . What Are Acceptable Use Policies?  An acceptable use policy, or AUP, is an agreement between students and their school district that outlines how students should stay safe while learning online. AUPs are also sometimes called responsible use policies or responsible use expectations. The purpose of these documents is to outline how the district's internet and devices should be utilized by students. They may also be considered codes of conduct. If students do not follow AUPs there may be consequences ranging from loss of privileges to removal of devices. The tone of a AUP is critical in conveying how a school district trusts its student body and embraces digital learning. Student-centered language makes students assume responsibility for their actions, for example "I will not eat or drink while using technology."  This story from the Office of Educational Technology shows how Bost...

Looking Back This week I am finishing up my first class for my technology specialist degree at Dominican University. Before starting this class I was a little nervous. Do I know enough about technology? Will I be able to keep up? How much of it will go over my head? Am I flexible enough in my thinking and teaching to try new things? I thought back to last school year when my kindergarten team was piloting the 1:1 device initiative in our school district. I was terrified! My students didn't touch the iPads until October and every time they did I was filled with anxiety, expecting something to go wrong. I can say with confidence that I have come a very long way. Those devices really changed my teaching and my students learning. Creating, explaining their thinking, and sharing was really transformative for my students. That experience encouraged me to start my technology specialist classes at Dominican. This first tech class allowed me to try so many new things: my first blog, T...

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 ...

Gif found  via GIPHY Digital Tatoos This week in EDU 776, I learned all about digital tattoos. Digital tattoos are essentially the lasting impressions we have made in digital spaces. We live in an age where it's uncommon to not have an online presence in some way. Like body tattoos, digital tattoos (social media posts for example) last forever. Whether we want them to or not! Everyone, adults and children, need to think carefully about the personal information they are putting out in public digital spaces. For myself, I have personal and professional digital spaces. I interact with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram very differently. The social media space where I am visible and professional is Twitter. And now I can add Blogger to this list as well! Only in the last couple years has my viewpoint of my professional online presence changed. I used to think that I didn't want myself to be "seen" online at all. Now that I've been working for a few years for a...

My Experience with Twitter This week in Edu 776 I participated in some educator Twitter chats. I have been using Twitter in a professional way for about a year. The school district I work for really encourages us to use Twitter to share our classroom activities with our community. At first I was really leery of joining Twitter. I wasn't sure how much I was going to get out of it. However, I have really enjoyed being part of Twitter. I love seeing what other educators are sharing. Follow me on Twitter @MsRzewnicki . Participating in Twitter Chat There are a couple things to remember when participating in a Twitter chat to help keep everything organized and easy for participants. When you respond to a question, put A1 if you are answer Q1 (question 1) so on and so forth.  Add the hashtag of the Twitter chat you are participating in at the end of each answer you tweet.  When participating in a chat, search for the hashtag and then make sure you are following the Lates...

Pic Collage This week I downloaded and investigated a "new to me" digital tool. I decided to explore the PicCollage app because I was so inspired by it's use in the active learning lessons I looked at a couple weeks ago! Image from  PicCollage.com Pros:  The app is free!  This is a fun and easy to use app that would give students the opportunity to make picture collages.  This is a very flexible digital tool. Students from kindergarten to high school could use PicCollage to create projects.  The ability to add text allows us to differentiate projects.  Students can be creative with various backgrounds, fonts, stickers, using the drawing tool, etc. What could be a boring picture collage is now more creative and engaging for students.  There are school settings in the app settings to disable social media icons and web images.  Cons: One negative to the app are all of the pop up messages to download additional items. I think th...

Ed Tech Research This week in Edu 776 I studied some research on educational technology. There was one area of research that I wanted to take a closer look at. Common Sense Media interested me because my district is starting to use the Common Sense Digital Citizenship curriculum this school year and I piloted a lesson in my kindergarten classroom last year. Embarrassingly, I hadn't actually read the research available, so I figured this was a great opportunity to do so! GIF  via GIPHY The first document I looked at was the  Common Sense Census: Inside the 21st Century Classroom . It was great to read that "teachers who used any type of digital citizenship curriculum in their classrooms, approximately half said it was “extremely” or “very” effective in helping students make smart, safe, and ethical decisions online." My students have 1:1 devices in our classroom. They use their iPads mostly for creating and sharing learning with me and their parents. They don...

Word cloud created on WordClouds.com What is Active Learning? Active learning moves teachers away from being lecturers to passive listeners and more like facilitators of engaging learning experiences. Active learning helps put students in charge of their learning with hands on activities. We know that the days of lecturing passive students are long gone, or at least they should be. Students that are active in meaningful activities will be more engaged, more motivated, and end up learning and retaining more. Here are just some examples of teaching strategies that prioritize active learning: Think Pair Share Partner and group games Debates Roleplaying Self-reflection  Group projects Science labs STEM projects Hands on learning /manipulatives Genius Hour / passion projects Research projects Field trips Whole body learning Multi-sensory learning My Experiences with Active Learning As an early childhood educator, I've been trained to focus on developmental...

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...

What is Triple E? The Triple E Framework was created by Professor Liz Kolb at the University of Michigan in 2011. The goal of the framework was to address the need for research based information about teaching with technology. The focus of the Triple E Framework is on effective teaching practices and learning outcomes, not just using fancy technology. A lot of research went into the development of this framework. For example, the research  explored the importance of active engagement, quality vs. quantity, the social aspect, and the importance of instructional strategies and authentic contexts. You can read more about the research at the Triple E Framework website here . This framework will help teachers assess if technology use is going to help students reach the learning targets. The E's stand for: Engage, Enhance, and Extend. Does the technology engage the students, for example motivate students and allow for active learning opportunities?  Does the technology enhance t...

This week in Edu 776, I learned about Genius Hour. Please check out the Adobe Spark presentation I created below, and then explore the resources that are linked below that! Resources: "What is Genius Hour? - Introduction to Genius Hour in the Classroom" Youtube Video   This is an overview of Genius Hour  Genius Hour  This website has some great resources for teachers, including a list of book recommendations. "You Get to Have Your Own Genius Hour (A Video for Students)"  This is a great video about Genius Hour that you can share with your students to get them excited about having Genius Hour time in their classroom.  THE CULT OF PEDAGOGY PODCAST, EPISODE 55  This episode of the Cult of Pedagogy Podcast is titled "Your Top 10 Genius Hour Questions Answered." Follow #geniushour on Twitter  This link will take you to #geniushour on Twitter. There are a lot of creative teachers that share so many ideas and resources on Twitter.  "Wh...

Personal Photo: Me at the Statue of Liberty National Monument Welcome to Techie in Kindergarten! This fall I started my journey of obtaining my Technology Specialist Endorsement through Dominican University. I am currently taking a course called Edu 776: Integrating Technology into Programming, Services & Instruction. I will be using this blog to share what I'm learning and the process of bringing technology into my kindergarten classroom. I received my bachelor's degree in early childhood education from Concordia University Chicago and my master's degree in literacy at Northeastern Illinois University. I have been teaching kindergarten for 11 years, 9 years in River Grove and 2 years in Northbrook. I love working with kindergarten kids. Our days are spent with songs, games, and play, but there is a lot of hard work that takes place in our classroom as well. We work hard to become independent readers and writers as well as becoming a community of thinkers t...