Building and Maintaining a Community

Introduction

Not only do we cater to students academic needs as educators, but we also support the social-emotional balance of their whole being. School settings are lush environments that encompass diverse communities and social groups. With the addition of social platforms, Online Learning and Blended Learning programs also need to be equipped with the norms and guidelines as to how we can create and maintain a healthy online community that allows students to feel inspired and part of a larger community.

Reflection

Original Blog Post

https://chyartblog.wordpress.com/2019/03/04/technology-the-teachers-best-tool/

As education continues to develop and morph into the 21st century - we see that the internet, social media platforms, and digital devices are increasingly important and necessary. Students’ needs are becoming more personalized and in order for teachers to be able to meet their needs, technology must be used. Whether we use it to differentiate or support learners’ abilities or use it as a collaborative and learning tool for ourselves to become better at our teaching craft - many of us "CUE" (Computer Using Educators) would be lost without the amazing new pedagogies that are provided to us through the digital world!

Connection to iNACOL - iNACOL Blended Learning Teacher Framework

Strategies that an instructor must encompass knowledge for are developed to support all learners:

Provide Online Resources - That cater to the interests, needs, and abilities of students.
Variety of Materials - Using technology to expose students to a plethora of resources that will ignite their learning and inspire their futures.
Develop Individualized Learning Experiences - Create rigorous units that can be adapted or modified based on students progress.
Create and Reflect on Student Goals - Have discussions, track student data, narrow down choice - find learning methods that will best support students' learning.
Use ONLINE Sources to Develop the whole child.
Use assessments for mastery - teach, reteach, adapt, change, in order to connect to their growth.

So what are the current GO TO’s that any educator can pick up to help support them in this crazy tech-based World!

Here’s the lowdown!

Twitter! What better way to get your steal worthy fix, then a social media platform that allows educators to share, chat, and support one another.

Participate in Twitter Chats - Dial into chats that you are interested in or participate in chats that you want to learn more things about! Twitter chats are pretty addicting and so inspirational! Try one out this week! Here are some of my faves: #CUECHAT #CAEDCHAT #TOSACHAT

Always wanting to try out a new strategy or find a great program that others are using with success. Twitter is a great way for you to be connected to educators from all over the world! Be inspired, share to inspire, and enjoy the daily inspiration.

Twitter is like the unofficial cool kids club for educators. When at times you may feel overwhelmed, undervalued, or unmotivated - Twitter can help cheer up your day. Follow your fave teacher/educator authors to hear some great daily advice, be inspired by shared pictures and videos that may eventually end up in your classroom, or develop and create a school culture that you can share out with your fellow school teachers to help develop a sense of educational pride.

Internet!

If we reflect on educations early beginnings, similar to the assembly line, a clone of manufacturing, and a cookie cutter design of the past, Teaching is now forever changed! - We now must see the light, that the internet has now flipped the script in the ways we learn, communicate, entertain, and explain life. Therefore the internet is our FRIEND!

I constantly tell my 5th graders - if they ask a question - that I am not yet an expert at - to simply Google It!

I tell them to find Youtube videos to help teach them easily another way to solve or develop a strategy.

Creativity is at their fingertips with image searches, TinkerCad Designs, CANVA creations, GOOGLE DRAWINGS, SCRATCH - and so much more is a great tool for students to express themselves in ways they never thought possible.

The even better part of all of this is that the internet is a tool that not only I as a facilitator of learning, can help develop my own skill set, but I can share that knowledge with other facilitators of learning!

GOOGLE DRIVE - has been a Type A personalities dream to organize content and projects between my team members from my own school site, sistering school sites, other districts, or even other counties - can we say COLLABORATION.

Word of the wise: obviously the Internet is a great tool for our students - but also giving students the knowledge of how to protect themselves from inappropriate interactions with others and false information is also important. Always be mindful of students' and how they use their devices to better support their learning.

Works Cited

National Standards for Quality Online Teaching. INACOL, Oct. 2011, www.inacol.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/national-standards-for-quality-online-teaching-v2.pdf.