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Wow… did this semester fly by for you, because mine sure did! Now that I have a full time teaching job and doing university classes at the same time, I do find that time flies because I am always so busy, but I like it that way! Throughout this semester in EDTC 300, I had the pleasure meeting all of you via zoom and feeling like I know you better by reading your blog posts each week. It has been great commenting on each of your posts and seeing what everyone comes up with each week, everyone is so creative and it makes me want to try new things! With myself, I am proud of the ASL that I have learned as it will help me in my career communicating with co workers or students. Through this last blog post, I am going to discuss how I contributed to EDTC 300 in multiple ways! Discord: Discord is something I have never used before and was not familiar with. But, my boyfriend who loves to game showed me the ins and outs of discord and I have really come to enjoy it. I think this is a great way to communicate with many people at once to give opinions, resources, and ask or answer questions. I found the Q&A very helpful on discord as there were many great questions that I had but someone already asked and had answers to! I will say, I was not very active on answering or asking questions each week on discord, but I always made sure to look there first before asking a question in class and almost 95% of the time it was there. I contributed by asking a question in discord, checking it each week, and sharing a little bit about myself at the beginning of the semester. Zoom: Each week we had a synchronized zoom class that I would always attend =. I could not attend the night of parent teacher interviews, but I made sure to watch the recording the next day so that I did not miss anything. I really appreciated that Katie recorded the zoom in case we were not available to come to class, or if we had to look back on the lecture if we needed clarification or forgot something. I enjoyed our weekly classes as they were engaging and we got to work together most of the time on different things we were learning in class. During breakout rooms I would always have my speaker and camera on and contribute as much as I could. Blog comments: I really enjoyed doing blog comments as it gave me a reason to look at my peers' blogs each week. I also liked going back to others that I already commented on to see where they are at in their journey. Each week I would make sure to comment on at least 3 peoples blogs. I took screenshots of who's I commented on and put them in a google doc for everyone to look at!
Now onto the fun stuff! Watch my Learning Summary that I posted on Youtube and created with Canva! I know, I know... it is a bit long, but how could I talk about all my favourite things in EDTC 330 in under 10 minutes! Thanks for the great semester everyone!
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The world of AI is honestly a great place. I learned about AI last year when it was my first year of teaching when another teacher showed it to me. The AI tool that I use most is ChatGPT. I love this tool! I use it mostly to write formal emails to parents as sometimes it is difficult to get your thoughts out and still sound nice! Of course you always have to read what AI says after it writes everything out and change a few things, but normally it comes out great every time! Since I used ChatGPT for over a year now, I wanted to explore a different AI tool. I actually found this one last Thursday when I was working on a social story for a student. The social story was very specific for this individual and I did not want the social story to embarrass them in any way. I googled "AI social story" and the first website that came up was called Magic School. On this website there are a bunch of different tools to use for teachers and it is free to sign up! There is a vocabulary list generator, decodable texts, behaviour intervention suggestions, song generator, and social stories! There are many more tools on this website but those ones caught my eye first! When using it to create a social story, I found it very easy to find and to use. You type in the social situation, event or activity that you are wanting to create a social story about and BOOM the perfect social story is made! I will do an example of a student being scared of a fire drill - here is what Magic School came up with when I type “Student is scare of fire drill, cries and hides when it goes off”: “Sometimes, I feel scared when the fire drill goes off at school. The loud noise makes me want to cry and hide. That is okay because I know I am not alone in feeling this way. When a fire drill happens, it is important to remember that it is a practice. The whole school practices how to stay safe in case of a real fire. The teacher is there to help me, and my friends can support me too. The fire drill will make a loud sound. I can cover my ears if it feels too loud. I can also take deep breaths to help me feel better. If I feel confused or scared, I can look at my teacher. If I need help, I can raise my hand, and someone will come to me. I feel happy when I follow the fire drill rules because it helps me stay safe. My teacher will guide us calmly to our safe spot outside. It is nice to know that everyone is doing this together. If I practice and remember that it is just a drill, I can feel more relaxed. It’s great that I am learning how to stay safe and how to help my friends too. After the drill, I can talk about how I felt, and that will help me feel better for next time. I will work on staying calm during the fire drill. I can do this!” I think that it is a great social story for a student who is afraid of the fire drill and tells them different strategies through the social story to stay calm. This can help any individual who need social stories that are specific to them and can support them in what they are struggling in. I do find that AI is such a smart tool and it may be making students start to be lazy and not learn the proper punctuation or vocabulary because they are not the ones writing or doing their work. I do not think I will ever teach older grades, but I do wonder how teachers can monitor this as I do find it difficult to know when it is AI or when it is not. I also think that you can not accuse a student of using AI because how do you know or have proof? I think as AI becomes more popular more students will start to use it and take advantage of it as it is an easy way to write an essay, resume, getting quick answers, etc. I think if people are using it properly and at right times, it is a very helpful tool to use.  Teaching digital literacy can look different in every grade and with every teacher and how they want to teach it. I am an elementary teacher and I think it is important to start teaching digital literacy probably around grade 4 as it seems that students are getting social media and technology younger and younger these days. Teaching this can connect in the health curriculum as technology can affect individuals mental and physical health. It might connect more when they are older, but even if it doesn’t connect, I think it is still important to teach students. I have never taught fake news before as I am in young elementary grades, but I also do not think I would be able to until I do more research about it myself so I have more information about it. I found the article “How do we teach students to identify fake news?” The author gave some good information about where to start as they suggest:
So if we are going to teach fake news, how would we even describe it? The article Fake News states that “Fake News is a type of hoax or deliberate spread of misinformation with the intent to mislead in order to gain financially or politically. Fake News is related to propaganda whose purpose is to spread information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.” Now, if you are going to teach this to elementary kids, you will need to put it into simpler words, but it is a good start on what it is and why it is so important to teach it at a young age so that our students are not getting themselves into trouble or danger with fake news. The NCTE gave many great goals that would be beneficial to incorporate in the classroom. The NCTE states “The internet is one of the primary information sources of the modern era, making it a necessity for learners to understand how to participate and navigate the networked world.” With this, it is important that we are teaching our students the importance of properly using technology and making sure we do not believe everything we see on the internet. We can teach them this by: Explore and engage critically, thoughtfully, and across a wide variety of inclusive texts and tools/modalities, Advocate for equitable access to and accessibility of texts, tools, and information, and Examine the rights, responsibilities, and ethical implications of the use and creation of information. There are many more recommendations on NCTE website that would be great to use in the classroom and to teach your students about before they get a hold of social media and technology.  The internet can be scary these days! When I look up myself on google, not a lot comes up but that’s how I want to keep it. When I used to have Facebook, I found that it was not very private, and when I did look up my name on google when I did have Facebook, there were a lot of my pictures of myself, my family, my pets, etc. and I did not feel comfortable that everyone could see it. I like being more private and knowing that someone can just search my name and see who I am or my family, that creeps me out! Now that I have deleted Facebook, I do not see myself pop up as much on google. The things that pop up on google when I search my name are my blog, spring convocation, and that is all! I was surprised not even my Instagram came up. I do believe that everyone has a digital footprint and maybe that is a good thing, but we were all young once and maybe said or did something that we regret on the internet, and I do not believe that there should be terrible shaming if they did it once. But, if they continue to do or say the same things on the internet, then that might just be their personality, so maybe it is okay if someone calls them out for it. What I am trying to say is, we all make mistakes and we should learn from those mistakes - not to have people bully or cyber-shame others because of something they did 10 years ago or that they regret, but if it is an ongoing situation that keeps happening on the internet, then no I do not feel bad for them as they are making that choice. I think we all have to watch what we post, especially if we are teachers. Our students can easily find us by searching our name or going on different social media platforms to find us. In my first year of university, I remember hearing all the time “you are a teacher 24/7” and that has stuck with me until now. After school, weekends, and summer break we are all still teachers so it does matter what we post or do not post online as it will always come back in a positive or negative way. As a teacher I want to educate my students on what they put online as they all have a digital footprint from the time they get technology.  Before this lecture, I really had no clue on what digital citizenship was as I have never heard that term before. Learning about it now, it is safe to say that it is very important to teach students what it is or if you have children of your own. Digital citizenship is using technology safely, responsible, and respectively. I am used to teaching younger students (K-3) who normally do not have phones yet so I don’t think I would ever teach them this, but I think grade 4 and up need to learn about digital citizenship as this age normally gets phones and social media during this age now. If I was ever teaching it, I would go about it responsibly by not pointing anyone out, and making sure it’s a learning activity, not a targeting activity for students. There are some good videos out there that will teach students about this, but it is important to watch them first to make sure that it fits who you are showing and is not negative in any way that will scare the students. I think it is important before you teach the students about digital citizenship to read Digital Citizenship in Saskatchewan Schools - Policy Planning Guide as I never knew this file existed and would be beneficial for teachers to read through. I really liked Oher's article Character Education for the Digital Age as he brings up “the two lives” perspective which means students should live a traditional life at school and a second digital life outside of school, but then there is the one life perspective that says the opposite. The one life perspective is making sure our job as educators help students live one life by inviting them to use technology at school and also talk about it and teach students about technology at school, in society and in the community. In my opinion, I agree with the one life perspective. I say this because technology is engrained in students' lives now and we are using it more in schools and in our daily lives now, so it is important that we also use it but also teach our students how to use it properly and safely. Here are the 9 elements of digital citizenship and how I will teach it in my own classroom: Digital access:
 It was amazing to see the data that Welsch brought up near the start of the video with the score card that he presented. I was surprised with his finding like in 2008 there was 9000 hours uploaded everyday, 200 000 3 minute videos and 88% of the content is new and original. So, if you think about it, this video was taped 16 years ago and our technology has changed so much during this time. I would like to know the data for this year that Welsch explained in 2008. Technology is now used for EVERYTHING! School and work all need technology now, no matter what career you are in - I bet there is technology in it. We have all come reliant on technology whether it is for the good or the bad. In my opinion it makes our jobs and daily lives a lot easier than it was before, but is that always for the good? Of course I believe that it can be used correctly in the classroom, but even in my two years of teaching I have seen it not being used appropriately, so yes I was very happy about the new phone policy for students in Saskatchewan. It would be nice for kids to be kids again, play outside, and not worry about their following or amount of likes they get on their social media pages. I do not think that there is enough education for children to properly use phone or social media, and I do think it would be a great idea to have guest speakers to come into the school and present online safety to students in grad 4 - 12.  Welsch also shared a graph where it showed the ages of people that are featured in Youtube videos and one of the highest ones were ages 12 - 17 which is alarming to myself. I say alarming because anyone can see these videos and kids these ages should not be known or seen by everyone as there is scary stuff that goes on behind computer screens, and it is too easy now a days for people to find information about who they see online. I was curious to see what the stats on teens using Youtube now, but also other social media platforms like Tik Tok, Snapchat, Instagram, etc as all of these social media platforms have gotten a lot more popular over the years. Pew Research Centre explains in their article that Youtube is continuing to be the top platform that teens use, which is not surprising to me. This website also gives a great visual on all the social media platforms that teens have been using and it is just scary to me that these platforms are not always private and there are young teens that do not understand the importance of using your device carefully.  When I think about using technology in my everyday life, I think that it is safe to say that most of us use technology everyday whether it is for personal use, work, family, etc. For myself I think in the past 6 years of being in university and now with my new job as an Student Support Teacher (SST) I spend lots of my time on technology for school and work reasons most of the time. Since I am on it so much during the day, when I get home I try not to be on it as much. The websites that I use most for work and school are definitely google chrome, Edsby, and Insite. Having all of these websites in one click makes my life a lot easier. Most of the time when I am using a website it is for educational purposes and most of the time when I am at home on my phone I go on apps like Instagram, snapchat, and Tik Tok the most, which take up too much of my time and wish I could delete them sometimes but I also find it a good way to unwind at the end of the day. I am still more of a paper girl when it comes to staying organized. I still like having an agenda or also a calendar that hangs on my fridge. I have started using the calendar that is on outlook that keeps all the staff updated with what everyone is doing, and I am starting to enjoy it more. I also use PlanBoard (https://app.chalk.com/auth/login) to plan out my lessons each day. I used it more when I was a grade 1-2 teacher last year, but not much anymore with my new position as an SST. I like this app to do day plans as it is easy to follow but it also has all of the Saskatchewan curriculum in the app so you can just click what outcomes and indicators you are working on for that lesson. I also find it helpful when substitute teachers come in because it is easy to follow because it is colour coded and has all the times and classes on the day plan as well. Like I said before, I find that social media can take up lots of my time and can become a distraction. Mostly Tik Tok or Instagram cause most of my distraction when watching a video and then continuing to watch videos that are pointless for over an hour. I found it really distracting when COVID hit and I was at home all the time. Rather than doing anything, I would sit on my phone scrolling videos all day. I noticed that my screen time was through the roof during this time and knew I needed to make a change. I had a goal for myself to only have 3-4 hours of screen time per day and I stuck with it and it made me realize how much time I was wasting on my phone before. In your phone, you can go to settings and check your screen time. I still have a goal for myself and seem to follow it still to this day. At the end of the work day, I try not to bring it home even though some days it can be hard. I tell myself that emails can wait and I can answer them when I get back to work in the morning. With taking university classes again, I am currently enrolled in 4 which is a lot of work at times. But, I make myself stay at school until around 5:00 each day to get work and school done and when I get home I normally relax and reset, which has worked well for me. Have a great week everyone!  Hello everyone, my name is Caitlyn Hartman. I convocated from the University of Regina in spring of 2022 and started substitute teaching right after that! I got my first teaching contract in Prairie Valley School Division in fall 2023, and now have a permanent teaching job as an SST (student services teacher) in PVSD. I am now taking my inclusive education certificate, and I am hoping to be finished in the Spring of 2025. I am from a small town in Saskatchewan and grew up on a farm. In my family I have my mom, dad, and older sister.
Growing up on a farm was the best thing as there is so much space and peace and quiet. I love going back home when I have time and being out there just clears my mind. I now live in Regina with my 2 cats and boyfriend. My favourite things to do are going camping and spending time with my friends and family. I also love to do crafting with my Cricut machine in my spare time! I do not have much experience with educational technology, but I am excited to learn. I use technology in the school quite often and I think this will really help me with certain things on a daily basis. I am also excited for this course as I do like blogging to write down my thoughts. I did create a blog my first year of university in 2019 until my last year. I found it a great way to share my thoughts and to keep things organized as well. I am excited for this course to learn about everyone and to also learn a new skill! |
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