Week 12 has been a busy week for me. I got engaged and am in the process of moving to Rapid City, so I didn’t get to do as much looking around as I usually do. I still added about 15 pins to my Pinterest board when I usually add about 20-30 every week. One of the things that I pinned that stood out to me wasn’t even about classroom management, it was more of a math game that needed good classroom management skills. In sum, students would be in two teams and each team would have two big dice. Students would take turns rolling the dice and getting two numbers. The teams would then work as a group to make those two numbers work in an addition, subtraction, multiplication, or even division problem. That is also nice because you can choose what to do based on your students level and keep it interesting during the game so they aren’t doing the same thing over and over again.

Before this year, I had never heard a podcast before. I always thought it was something that was just for old people and not someone my age. At the beginning of the semester, one of my roommates started listening to podcasts. At first, I made fun of her because I genuinely thought they were all lame, until I rode with her to Rapid City one day. She began to play her podcast like she always does while driving, and I actually started to enjoy it. After listening it to about an hour, I began searching for podcasts I might like. It didn’t take me but 5 minutes to find 3 different podcasts series that I was instantly intrigued by.

For anyone who knows me, they know that I am obsessed with any crime show. I love everything from Forensic Files to CSI. I just find them interesting and they seem to capture my attention immediately and hold it for a good period of time as well. This is why my first series works really well for me. The podcast that I seem to listen to the most is called True Crime. One of the major perks of this podcast is the narrator for the cases is from Australia, so he has a cool accent. Also, they are really good about picking stories that are interesting to everyone and not just a specific audience. Each podcast is about an hour and fifteen minutes long, so it is perfect to listen to when I am working out or driving to my parents’ house.

The next podcast that I found interesting is called Deep Thoughts with Fallon Taylor. For those of you who don’t know, Fallon Taylor is a professional barrel racer who is also a world champion and has qualified for the National Finals Rodeo more times than I can count. What I love about her podcasts is she uses all of the experiences she has gone through and makes them relevant for people like me who might not be on her level but are still going through similar struggles. The best way to describe them are motivational. She is convincing you to get off the couch and go chase your dreams. She posts 3 times a week, so you never really run out of content to listen to. They are only 45 minutes long, so they are nice if you don’t have a huge amount of time out of your day to dedicate to listening to them.

There are so many benefits that we have as students in the digital age. We don’t even realize that we become dependent on these certain strategies to have quality writing. For example, someone who is in high school or even in college at this time, probably had a computer the whole time they were in school. These computers have several programs and websites available that make writing faster and more accurately. What are some other advantages? Lets take a look!

Advantage 1: Formatting

APA, MLA, and Chicago. What do these have in common you ask? They are all different formats for writing papers! Jumping from one to the other may be confusing, so there are websites like purdue.edu that makes sure you are following the formats to a T. This way you have a guide no matter where you go or what format you are working with. Accuracy and accessibility are key!

Advantage 2: Spelling/Grammatical Errors

Programs like Microsoft Word tell you when you make a spelling or grammatical error and give you suggestions on how to fix it. These help you not only improve your writing, but make it faster. Proofreading can be done in seconds when scanning it through a website like citationmachine.com.

These two advantages are just some of several. There are several resources that you can use to find more such as the following:

https://www.edutopia.org/video/elyse-eidman-aadahl-writing-digital-age-big-thinkers-series

https://www.gettingsmart.com/2017/07/8-tips-for-teaching-writing-in-the-digital-age/

https://www.pewinternet.org/2013/07/16/part-v-teaching-writing-in-the-digital-age/

Technology is a big thing in today’s society, and it is only getting bigger. We use technology daily and most of the time, all day. Even all of our classes are on a digital format so to do our homework we are using technology. This class even has us using social media daily! At this stage in my life, it would literally be impossible for me to unplug from technology. All of my classes are done online, I communicate with my professors via email, and the only way I can see my family is Skype or FaceTime. This summer, it would be very easy for me to unplug. I will be with my loved ones; I won’t have people depending on me being on my laptop 24/7.

Unplugging from technology isn’t the full answer, so for someone in my shoes it is more practical to focus on using it mindfully. Using technology mindfully is a complicated game to play. You really need to focus on finding a happy medium between your online life and your real-life life. As Paul Miller said in his TED talk, it was a continuous inner battle to keep on the fine line.

A year offline, what I have learned | Paul Miller | TEDxEutropolis https://t.co/vIMLnjEtDB via @YouTube— PaigeCross (@CrossPaige1998) March 28, 2019

There are many benefits to using technology mindfully. There are obvious benefits such as building your relationships with others. If you use technology mindfully, you live in the now. That means you will be less likely to miss big events. I saw a photo the other day and it was labeled “Yearly reminder to not be this person” and it was pictures of almost every single person at a wedding with their phones out in the middle of the isle. It was so sad to me that the people felt the need to look at it through their camera and not see it with their own eyes.

Using technology mindfully could even help your online life more. There becomes a point when people are consumed by social media or the million different distractions on technology. Once you hit that point, it can consume you. It will hit a wall where it isn’t enjoyable anymore because you care more about the responses you get and the feeling of achievement when you hit so many shares or likes. Once you take a step back hopefully it will help you remember that there is definitely more to life when you have a good balance of technology and real-life experiences instead of a monopoly of one or the other.

I have kind of hit a wall for my independent learning project. I feel like a lot of the things I have been finding on Pinterest are either repetitive or I don’t think will be very effective. Right as I was contemplating if I had made the right choice for this week’s option for the second blog, I found the mother-load! One good thing about Pinterest is when you find one idea/post that you like is you can see related posts as well. Scrolling through the app on a sleepless night, I found one activity that I thought was a great idea.

It led me to a tweet that had a bunch of other teachers who also thought this was a great idea. There was a handful of teachers who had tried it and said it actually motivated kids more than their previous management tools.

We continue to work on our routines and class expectations together for our next mystery reward! @SNWSchool pic.twitter.com/SPaLSuqfs3— Mrs. Younes (@mrs_syounes) September 25, 2017

There are several things that could be individualized about this tool. The first one is obviously the class expectations on the sticky notes. This could align with the values we focused on last week. For examples if you had one about being respectful make sure there are a couple sticky notes that they could achieve by being respectful.

The next thing is the rewards that are under the sticky notes. You could either keep them more like the class examples which is things like snacks and wearing costumes to class or find ones that motivate your students specifically.

Overall, this is a great idea that I plan on putting in my stack of ideas for when I begin teaching.

For my Independent Learning Project, I have been doing a lot of research on classroom management. When you think classroom management, you think structure and rules. That is the issue with a lot of classrooms today is there is so much structure and rules, there can’t be a high level of active learning. Telling children “no” all day will quickly get old for both you and them. They will end up getting frustrated and you will end up upset. I found several different blogs that suggested using “values” instead of rules. I really liked this idea because sometimes when students feel pressured in a situation, they will tend to act out more. Giving them values to live by and not rules gives them the sense of freedom that they get to choose what happens during their day.

An example that I found is:

This is a class that shows kindness.  

This is a class that dares to be bold.

This is a class that laughs daily. 

This is a class that thinks critically. 

This is a class that works hard.

This is a class that learns from our mistakes.

This is a class that gives generously.

This is a class that shares selflessly.

This is a class that respects others.

This is a class that cares deeply.

This is who we are.

http://www.building-brilliance.com/2018/03/why-i-teach-class-values-instead-of.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=pinterest&utm_campaign=tailwind_smartloop&utm_content=smartloop&utm_term=8254078

If you decide to create your own classroom values, it is important to keep in mind they 5 key values you need to include to make a well-rounded list. Incorporating at least value for each of the main 5 point should help your students have a decent understanding of what is important for them to work on. Here are the five major values:

• Responsibility
• Respect
• Fairness
• Trustworthiness
• Honesty

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/8-pathways-creating-culture-integrity-marilyn-price-mitchell

            Overall, I think that using values over rules could have some positive benefits in your classroom. The level of responsibility it gives students is great for them to learn how to act in the real world as well. I will definitely be incorporating this in my classroom!

Over the past couple weeks, I have set out about 30 minutes a day to do some research on classroom management. One way I like to find new information is through Pinterest! I find this site extremely useful and the possibilities are endless! So many of the things shared on Pinterest are very creative and usually very effective as well. I have tons of things saved on my boards, but I found one blog post in particular that stood out to me. If you are in the field of elementary education and have any questions, this blog is a great one to follow! Hope you enjoy!

https://missgiraffesclass.blogspot.com/2016/10/25-chatty-class-classroom-management.html?m=1

After spending some time googling myself, I was actually pretty happy with the results I saw. I have personally seen employers look up applicants online. This can be a make or break situation with some employers, especially in the education field. Once when I was helping my boss hire at a daycare, she looked up someone who had put in an application. The first thing she saw was a picture of the girl in a drunken daze with drinks in both her hands. She simply rejected the application even though the girl was more than qualified. Ever since that day I have worked to clean up my existing social media and make sure everything I post is 100% appropriate.

Not long ago I actually deleted my first Facebook to create a more appropriate social media platform. It’s not that I was posting anything bad, it just wasn’t the most professional page. I thought that going into teaching it would be good too that I didn’t have any pictures from junior high/high school age me. This will help me seem a little more professional and asks for a level of respect that is needed to be an effective teacher.

The first thing that popped up actually about me was my bio on the Lakota Young Professional rodeo team. It is a sponsorship from the horse trailer company Lakota trailers. They help share your social media and help you get more sponsorships as long as you keep your Instagram clean and up to date with rodeos you’ve been in. What is nice about this coming up as the top hit when I google myself is it is such a positive aspect of my life that I’m glad and excited to share with people. My biography on there is a little out of date and is more rodeo based than my priorities are now, but still would be amazing if it would actually happen.

The next thing that popped up was an article that talked about students who were in NHSRA (Nebraska High School Rodeo Association) and were also valedictorians and salutatorians. This is nice because it is another platform that talks about another good things in my life that I’m glad to share. I was a salutatorian for my high school class and worked hard to earn the GPA I graduated with.

Overall, it is very important that you are careful what you post on social media. I have searched some of my friends and helped them fix their social media foot print as much as possible. However, it is important to remember that once you post it, it is permanent and always out there.

Digital citizenship is extremely important, especially in today’s society where technology is so prominent. The concept of digital citizenship is that people who have an online presence will be responsible and be a good citizen like they are in their real-life communities. Being a good digital citizen includes keeping your online community a safe place for everyone. According to an article on the EdTechReview website (http://edtechreview.in/trends-insights/insights/1331-why-is-digital-citizenship-important-even-for-youngest-kids) there are 5 major concepts to being a good digital citizen and putting your safety first online. Even though this site was designed for children to keep safe online, I think it works just as well for adults as well.

The first one is keeping private information PRIVATE. So many people will jump online and share everything from their hometown to their birthday. Some adults may even put their credit card information online without thinking about it either. I know I have even personally ran across some things that I thought would be cool to buy, but when you proceed to the checkout it seems a little shady. If you have a bad feeling, don’t risk it and leave the site immediately. Private information can even be leaked by something as simple as forgetting to log out on a public computer. The next time someone sits down to work, they have all your information right in front of them. Most people would just log out, but it would only take one person to put your personal identity at risk.

The second main concept is to respect not only others, but yourself. At the college age especially, people may put things on their social media that would put a red flag up for future employers. For example, I know of a person who was going to get hired as a teacher but when they looked up her name, they saw nothing but pictures at the bar with drinks in her hand and they immediately pulled her resume from consideration. The same could happen if you were to leave a rude comment on someone’s post or share/use crude humor on your page.

The third and probably one of the relevant ones in today’s society is to stand up to cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is when people use a digital platform to harass/threaten someone. It is becoming a huge issue even as early as 2^nd grade. When I was observing in a classroom last fall, one of the students in the class was being harassed via text by a student in the grade above. It got bad enough that they had to call both sets of parents in for a meeting to get it resolved because it was causing the 2^nd grader to go into a depression. It is scary for me to think that it is happening at that young of an age.

The other two categories kind of fall into the first and second point. One is making sure that all things you put out on the internet is safe and appropriate. The next one is when in school you will use your personal device for things related to your education only. This means no scrolling through Facebook or Twitter during school hours. You should be focused on the content that is being presented to you and not abusing your technological privilege. Keeping these 5 simple things in mind anytime you open your computer or pick up your cell phone will help make sure that you are demonstrating digital citizenship.

There are several learning approaches that I looked at when choosing what one to write about. When I began researching, I really had no opinion going into it. One of the big things that drove me to choose the personalized learning approach was my special education class. My professor said one day that here pretty soon the personalized learning approach is the move. Long story short, she made it sound like everyone will pretty much have an IEP to some extent. Since more technology is available and we know more about the different types of learners, it makes sense that education is moving with the times as well. One of the first steps to a personalized learning plan is what kind of learner are you.

What learning style are you?

There are three different kind of learning styles that you can typically fall under. They include visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. What can make this easy to remember is using the acronym VAK. Learning what kind learner you are is so important when it comes to your learning experience. Even though there are only three types of learners, they are all so different.

Visual

Visual learners are exactly what they sound like: learners who do best with visual cues. With this learning style students learn the best by watching the subject done by others or using other visual cues during the lesson. These learners would have lessons that included a lot of pictures and accurate examples. A big tip for teachers with visual learners is to use the whiteboard as much as you can! Let them scribble on it and work the problems for themselves.

Auditory

Auditory learners achieve most by listening to others. This includes the students who learn best through lectures, audiobooks, or even watching documentary videos. For these students it is important to make sure you still teach as a teacher and don’t just assign pages in a text book for your students to learn from. Catering to the simple needs of each learning style can make a huge difference in the overall education of your students.

Kinesthetic

The hardest learning style for most teachers to incorporate in their classroom is kinesthetic learners. These learners learn best through hands on activities. Some subjects are easier than others for kinesthetic learners such as science because there are already a lot of hands on activities, but reading might be more difficult for you as a teacher to come up with ideas.

If you are curious on what kind of learner you are, take the quiz below! I got visual learner!

http://www.educationplanner.org/students/self-assessments/learning-styles.shtml