While completing Module 8 and reading about how to have guidelines in the classroom I realized that digital guidelines aren't just important in the classroom.  My husband told me that he has problems daily with his employees looking at their cell phones too much. He said they are clueless when it comes to the appropriate use of phones or social media. Where do we start teaching this? Is it elementary school? Especially now that the majority of kids are exposed to other types of technology other than the cell phone at school.  Personally, I think as teachers we have a huge responsibility to teach the etiquette of our new digital world and pray ( A LOT) that what we teach carries over with them into adulthood.

How many times have we as educators created wonderful units and then forgotten about a resource we used on the fly?! Let me answer that for you.... A LOT!!!! If we created a Symbaloo webmix for a unit then our resources would be with us from year to year, and it would be an easy resource to add to. It sounds scary at first learning something new, but this is our new world in education. The students aren't the only ones having to learn new things! Unfortunately, the older you get the more we drag our feet when it comes to learning new things.  I love Symbaloo and even created a webmix for Social Studies.  Symbaloo has made my life much easier. I just had to step outside my comfort zone to realize it!

Wow, Dan Pink's YouTube video was awesome. As an educator I have struggled for YEARS to motivate my class. Yes, I have dangled the carrots and yes, I have said you have to want to do it for yourself. You name it, I think we've all done it. I wish I had the answer as to why some kids are intrinsically motivated and why some aren't. However,  I have noticed a pattern. I personally think if kids see their parents as hard workers then they want to emulate them. I know on a personal level nothing makes my son or daughter more proud than to have someone tell them they are hard workers. Did my husband or I tell them everyday, "You've got to be a hard worker in life?" No. they saw it first hand. Especially, where their father is concerned. He gets up every morning at 3:00 a.m. to go to work and sometimes does not get home until after 5:00. Some things in life people do because they have had a good support system around them. And then let's be perfectly honest, sometimes we do things because of the extrinsic motivation. Especially, where money is concerned. The best thing we can do for ourselves, children, students, whomever is to find the happy balance. These are just my thoughts. I can't give a concrete example, because I too am still trying to figure this question out.

Baby Steps

I am starting to come around to this whole technology thing. I admit that I am still a strong voice for using technology as a tool, not the main focus of my instruction, but using baby steps I am coming around. Our school purchased the rights to use an online encyclopedia and I am very excited about utilizing this resource to write reports and watch experiments. Hopefully, my students will be excited too!

Being ask to change my mindset at my age right now is a huge feat! But.....if I was going to make a "change" I would probably start with only sending my newsletter electronically. I know that may not seem like a big deal, but for my class it would be major! I send the newsletter home each week and I post it to our website, but very rarely do I have a parent look at the website. I think we are all (or the majority of us digital immigrants) stuck in the paper/pencil way of thinking. Again, let me just say.....baby steps!

Please be patient with this new blogger. She is having fun designing her blog! My daughter is a graphic design major with a minor in marketing and she gave me step by step directions on how to be more creative. Oh and she said to add my photo! I decided to take baby steps and just play with the color and fonts first.

The Struggle is Real!

Well, I never thought I would be a blogger! And....if you ask my coworkers they would agree LOL! But here I am and it feels good to go outside my comfort zone. Funny, sometimes thinking about doing something new is much worse than actually doing it! I bet my class feels the same way about division.