Art of Tek

 After reviewing all of the resources, I found two of them to be the most applicable to my age group,  Google Teacher Training for Digital Citizenship and Safety Skills  and  Common Sense Education: Digital Citizenship: . The Google Teacher Training had many different modules that were easy to follow with videos to help educators and also I believe high school students understand the ramifications of not following internet safety. I liked Common Sense Education because it offered differentiation by age. This helps students understand the internet at age-appropriate levels and then moves them up when they are ready for more information.  Common Sense Education also had relevant life situations for students. For example, under 9th grade they had, Relationship and Communication on the Internet, Cyberbullying, Hate Speech, and Drama, and Digital Footprint and Identity. These are all things freshmen in high school should be thinking about when using the internet. As ...

 According to  The 9 Elements of Digital Citizenship Your Students Need to Know ,  my students practice five of nine elements when using technology in my classroom.  1. Digital Access:  I am lucky that I work in a district that has been 1:1 since 2012. We also give MiFi to students who do not have the internet at home. So, for our district, we do not have an access issue.  2. Digital Communication:  On our campus, we have students practice sending emails to their teachers during Homeroom every week. We usually have a specific lesson to go with the email they are sending. It teaches them about the heading of the email, the body, the tone, and how to respond. I also have students communicate to me through email for specific assignments or requests, so they can practice using their email.  3. Digital Literacy:  My students do frequent research on Artists, Art Materials, and Art Movements. We talk extensively at the beginning of the year about c...

  Remind is the most invaluable communication app out there for educators to use to stay in touch with students and parents. It has even evolved into a system much like Google Voice, where you can call parents and students from your personal cell phone and it will hide your phone number.  Another great feature of this app is that translates to over seventy languages. This translation is a two-way street. You can translate your messages before you send them, or the recipient can translate them to their preferred language once they receive a message from you. I teach in a Title One District that has a 98% Latinx population, so this has become my go-to way to communicate with parents and students over phone calls. It also is a great way to keep documentation of the conversations you have had with the parents. My students also love the accessibility they have to me through this app. They can reach me quickly. I will get a notification on both my phone and computer when they send m...

  Mcleod covers four initiatives for women in education today.  Women Who Lead:  Women Who Lead has more than 500 curated video conversations with over 70 women who hold leadership positions in education. There are 8 different learning modules, customized pathway options, protocols, scholarship opportunities, a private discussion forum, a  curated Twitter list , and much, much more SheLeadsEdu:   led by the phenomenal Jody Britten and Missy Emler and  their team of ‘hell raisers.’  SheLeadsEdu hosts frequent Twitter chats, online video meetups, and book clubs. There also is a private community for participants as well as a SheLeadsEdu directory of women leaders around the world.  WomenEd:     a ‘global grassroots movement’ that brings together both existing and aspiring women leaders in education across the globe. WomenEd boasts a community of over 35,000 participants and has hosted hundreds of events. The leaders of WomenEd have a ...

I have stumbled through many digital portfolios throughout my career trying to find the best one to display my student's work. Recently I found Bulb. What I like about Bulb is that you can set up pages for each class, or even pages for clubs or resources you want to showcase. Here is a link to the beginning of my journey on Bulb:  Thompson's Bulb Digital Portfolio .  If you click on my Art Contest Page you will see the start of my Digital Portfolio journey. The website is here  Bulb App . In my research for this, I have found that districts are using this for all subjects. Some are using it like infographics. Since we just talked about some infographics, I thought this might be another tool to add to the Ed Tech toolbox.  The final products can be shared with most LMS districts are using for Virtual Learning with a shared link once the pages are published. You can also embed voice, URLs, videos, images, and text into your pages.  You can choose to keep your page...

 Mcleod makes a strong point about our educational system needing to look inward after the pandemic. "   In the summer months of 2020 (here in the United States), school leaders had an opportunity to learn from the mistakes that they made in the spring and do things differently in the fall"(Mcleod, 2021). Instead of accessing what went wrong in the Spring, most districts frantically tried to figure out what would please parents. After a year of panic teaching, will districts look back and acknowledged where we failed our students, educators, and parents and make changes for next year? What are some changes you would like your district to make for next year and what are some things that worked this year that it should keep? http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/page/2

  PIXLR Photo Editor came in clutch this year as not all our students had access to computers that could handle Photoshop Creative Cloud. This program is a great tool for students to learn basic photo editing skills that match the layout of Photoshop. We were able to have our Virtual and Face to Face students do a Digital assignment, without using hard drive space on their tablets.  This is a web-based Photo Editing site. All students need to have is access to the internet and a camera. Unlike Photoshop that has to be installed on a computer, this is a website,  https://pixlr.com/e/ , that students can upload their photos and edit straight on the website.  The layout and tools are very similar to Photoshop, so students can get an understanding of basic photo editing here. Then if they want to continue in our Digital program they can take the upper-level classes where they have access to the complete Photoshop Creative Cloud. We have decided we are going to use this f...

 With so much emphasis being put on how much students are losing during the pandemic, Mcleod speaks about how much time we lose in the class each year just in how we teach and students respond. " How regularly do students come to school anticipating that they will be discovering valuable information, practicing useful skills, and engaging in interesting activities and challenging conversations?  And imagine viewing everything that hinders or prevents these kinds of engagements as potential time-wasters "(Mcleod, 2021). How much time were you spending before the pandemic quitting students, dealing with behavior problems, throwing down busy work because you were not prepared, or the technology did not work working the day you wanted to use it?  With the onset of the pandemic, has your time management increased or do you feel that you are wasting more time just trying to get a class started or materials started and aligned for the day? Or the technology just is not cooperat...

  I recently stumbled across Floop looking for a way to have my Virtual students and my Face to Face students interact. This program's beauty is that when students turn in an assignment, you can leave feedback right on the assignment in specific areas. Students can upload PDFs, Google Docs, Word Docs, and JPGs. So, for art, I have students upload JPGs of their artwork. I can click an area and critique it. Then the student sees the response and can answer my question.  Another great feature is the Peer Review. Once students have turned in the assignment, you can set up a question you want students to answer on each other's work. Below is an example of one I did with my students. It even tells you if the students did not quite meet the question requirements. The green dots mean they answered the question, yellow means it is close, and red means they missed the mark. My students have loved how this has brought both the virtual and face to face students together. They also love th...

  Mcleod hits the nail on the head when it comes to whether districts are ready for Blended Learning after the Pandemic. According to Mcleod, d espite our wishes otherwise, even the savviest, most skillful, most trusted school leader is going to have difficulty transforming their educational system after the pandemic (2021).   Educators are going to be exhausted from being in the technology onslaught of the past year and a half. If they were not using technology regularly in their classes before the pandemic, they are only human and are going to want a break. It is going to take innovative leadership, eager educators ready for disruptive changes, and a community wanting to continue with a new style of learning to embrace what we have endured during this time period.  However, Mcleod is not hopeless, s ome school systems will use technology in some different ways after the pandemic. We will see some teachers incorporate some new practices and skill sets into their wor...