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Coding Journey

Learning How to Code My coding journey, Fall 2021 This semester, I have been learning how to code in my graduate class titled EDU 744: Coding for Educators. Overall, this course has been very informative and really helped me learn more about ways to support my students and their technology experience. One really important thing I learned in this course is the importance of slowing introducing students to coding. Coding can be very complex and particular, so it is important to introduce students to the coding process slowly and in a way that is super hands on and engaging. You don't want to overwhelm students with coding or move too quickly because it could discourage them from coding forever! For example, starting off coding with a fun exploration process or integrating coding with a video game that students love would help support students in the coding learning process. I will use this knowledge in the future to help me plan lessons and introduce my students to coding in a fun, e...
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Social Media Post

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Social Media in Education This week, I explored the topic of teenagers and the skills needed for future jobs in technology. I am always curious when we do our classroom community unit to learn what my students want to be when they grow up. It is fascinating to hear about what they dream about, what kind of job or lifestyle they want to have, and why. Sometimes their responses are funny. For example, one time I had a student say that he wanted to be a fire fighter to save the cats. While other students' responses are super thought out or reflect a job of someone that they look up to. More recently, I have had students reply that they want to be a YouTuber or a famous TikToker. These are new jobs to me and shows just how much influence current social media trends have on their young lives. Please see the image below of what our classrooms might look like if we let students have their phones or tablets with them all the time. Social media is everywhere and has the power to grow or hin...
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Reflection Post

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Reflection I can not believe this is the final week of Edu 776! When I first began this course I was feeling very excited but also nervous. There were lots of unknowns this year, especially transitioning from a year of remote only learning and living through a pandemic. Additionally, this is the second to last course I need to finish up my Master's Degree in Education at Dominican University. Overall, I am still feeling like the gif below that I shared in my first ever blog post. I am super excited to have worked with everyone in this course and also very excited and a little nervous to see what the future holds!  Image source:  https://giphy.com Technology in Education Throughout the past 8 weeks, I learned so much about technology in education. This course allowed me to really explore using technology professionally and sharing my own teaching experiences with others. I have never before blogged or had a Twitter account with the purpose of sharing my educational views and l...
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Digital Tattoo Post

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Digital Tattoo This week I explored how permanent your virtual life can be. As an elementary aged student, I had a few lessons during computer class about what a virtual footprint is and how whatever we look up, find, or post can be traced back to us and will leave a virtual footprint forever. This was very eye opening as a child because I had no idea! I think teaching students about virtual safety, especially with all this new technology students have access to, is a great idea! I believe that everyone, parents/families, teachers and counselors are responsible for teaching students about the importance of virtual privacy. We should start teaching our students/children now about virtual safety because they are being exposed to technology every day and at younger and younger ages.  Specifically, the term digital tattoo is a term I had not heard before. After watching the video titled  Your online life, permanent as a tattoo  by Juan Enriquez, I discovered that not only can...
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Personal Learning Network (PLN) Post

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My Twitter Experience This past month, I explored Twitter and all of the wonderful resources available on it. I never had a Twitter before so I had to learn a lot about this new technology tool. I really liked being able to see other peoples' posts in education as well as like and re-tweet their posts on my own page. This was very helpful, because any resources I liked and wanted to try out or save for the future, I could save and find them later on my account page. Below is a picture of my Twitter account. Please follow to see more educational resources  @lewis_em96 .  Image source: Personal photo from Twitter When first creating my Twitter account, I made sure to follow lots of educational people, resources and companies I knew. For example, I started following  @TCEA ,  @bilingualteacher ,  @CommonSenseEducation ,  @PearDeck ,  @WeAreTeachers ,  @ScholasticTeach , and others. All of these accounts offered some great resources for teachers and w...
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Accessibility Post

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Assistive Technology Assistive technology is super important and can help all students and students with disabilities learn better. Assistive technology can include many things. To explore more examples of types of assistive technology and accessibility in the classroom, I explored the Accessibility Presentation by Nicole Zumpano. In this presentation, I learned about different types of assistive technology and websites, apps, and programs that can help people who have either a visual or hearing impairment or a physical or cognitive disability. The following image from the presentation really spoke to me and is a good reminder when planning lessons. The image can help you as a teacher think about different ways to include various accommodations within your own lessons for any students who may have a visual or hearing impairment or a physical or cognitive disability.   Image source:  Accessibility Presentation   by Nicole Zumpano Accessibility in Education It is supe...
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Research Post

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This week I explored a variety of research statistics about students and their technology use. Due to the pandemic last year and virtual learning, I knew that technology usage had increased in the home but I was most surprised to learn about how much technology time has increased for students ages 0 to 8 years old and the parent's view of technology for this particular group of students. Technology for young students As I explored Common Sense Media, they provided a great insight into the media usage of students ages 0 to 8. I n the article titled  "Teaching Digital Citizens in Today's World" , I learned that students ages 0 to 8 have an average screen time of two and a half hours. This was shocking to me! That is such a long time to  spend staring at a screen, especially for young children. I also was shocked to learn that most of the 0 to 8 year olds screen time was devoted to TV or videos (an average of 33%) while 16% was spent on homework. I wonder why the TV or v...
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