WHAT I LEARNED IN BOATING SCHOOL IS!!!!!!!

In today's session we covered quite a few different items within technology in the classroom. My top favorites were using zoom for guest speakers, remind to keep in contact with parents and the social media footprint. I was excited for this course, being a math teacher in the works, technology is usually something that tends to be kept away from students in fear of cheating. Today's session really broke that stigma down and helped push us as future educators in the right direction.


I have used zoom before, but it never occurred to me to use it as a way amplify learning in my future classroom. Using zoom would be a way to tie in the real world to the math that is taught in the classroom by demonstrating how mathematics tie in to different professions. Providing a guest speaker, my future students will gain deeper understandings as they will be able to put a new face to a lesson. Guest speakers help understand hard concepts while building communication and social skills. On top of all that, who wouldn't love to have someone other than your teacher teach you something?

I have briefly used remind and it really is the best way to communicate while in the school district. Though we should be communicating with parents of different generations in different ways, I think on top of using it to communicate with parents, I will use it to communicate with my students. I would use the remind app to well, remind my students of different assignments and creating an open line of communication. That will eliminate or lessen the good excuse of "I forgot that was due today." Research done on remind resulted in the finding of simple convenient messages received quick responses, thus my reminders for homework should have a positive effect. I personally think using remind would help build and create a relationship with students.

I did not think it was that important to have a social media footprint, if anything I had the understanding it was best to not have a way for students or parents to track you. After today's session, I think it was clear to understand technology is rapidly progressing and a part of every day life. One doesn't necessarily be active on their social media accounts, but the example given in class about a student creating a fake account under a teacher was not too shocking. People make fake profiles all the time, what's stopping students from doing it to a teacher they may not be fond of? On the opposite side of this, we should be creating our footprint to best highlight who we are and our accomplishments. This result could lead to job offers, creating communities and building networks. My all-time favorite social media outlet is Twitter. I'm not too sure yet if I would have two accounts, my professional account and a personal one due to the fact that it seems like a lot to maintain. Whatever I decide, I know I will use the provided hashtags to look for ideas, support, and others within my educational math community.

The main message I pulled from today's class was do not let fear take over. Don't spend time fearing you students will cheat, will use technology for something else than what was assigned, etc. Take that chance and believe in your students. They are technology natives, they know what they're doing! We as educators need to demonstrate how to apply their technological knowledge towards being successful in the classroom.