What is one way in which you grew as an educator from this class and how will you continue it?

I think the biggest thing that I am taking away from this class is that I am more open to go out and explore different aspects of technology that I could potentially use in my classroom. I honestly, in the past, have not been an innovator. However, I think from this class, I am more likely to actively go find new things to potentially use rather than waiting for someone else to try them first. This has been a challenging yet very fun class--I have really enjoyed being exposed to what's out there!

Underage Social Networking and NSTE Student Standards

The NSTE Student Standards for Digital Citizenship are as follows:

5. Digital Citizenship

Students understand human, cultural, and societal

issues related to technology and practice legal and

ethical behavior.

a. Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible

use of information and technology

b. Exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology

that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity

c. Demonstrate personal responsibility for

lifelong learning

d. Exhibit leadership for digital citizenship

In the article about underage social networking, it was interesting to learn how many younger students knowingly falsified their ages on Facebook to have access. What is even more interesting is that those that were on sites that have age limits and admitted to falsifying their age, their parents were either as responsible for the age falsification as the students or just ignorant--there was only 1 student surveyed who said their parents were not aware of their usage. Either way, the students (and their parents) were not practicling safe and responsible behavior. In the article, it was stated that 82% of the students using social networking sites were aware that the information/pictures they posted were visible to strangers. So, many questions/alarms arise from this for me! ["Are they uneducated about the potential dangers of strangers having access to their information?" "If so, do they just not care?" "(More likely) Are they just too immature to grasp the severity of the consequences?" "Are their parents really okay with them being on these sites where predators have access to them?" "If their parents are okay with this,what measures do they take to monitor their children's safety?"]    Maybe I worry too much, but I think that if there are sites that cater to certain age groups, then children should be limited to those sites. They shouldn't be participating on sites where they have to lie about their age--and their parents definitely shouldn't be encouraging this behavior. By allowing students to participate on these sites where they are not truthful about their age--they are just setting a precedent for their children that it is okay to lie.

Did you learn about your teaching style.....

I have found that my teaching style is kind of all over the place right now--I think I'm still trying to find my identity!  I am so excited about being back in the classroom and want to try so many things that I feel like a total spaz sometimes. I have figured out that when writing or giving instructions I have to be careful of assuming that my learner(s) have previous knowledge. I think I sometimes have a bad habit of this and maybe don't make things as clear as I could. I'm learning that I have to step back and read instructions and try to imagine any questions that they might trigger or imagine how the instructions could be received by the learner(s). I think one of my strengths is that I do keep continually re-evaluating things to see how I might make them better--I am very open to feedback!