
WWMIT
Thursday, July 29, 2021
Final Post: What Message Do We Send?

Wednesday, July 28, 2021
What Does It Mean To Prepare for a Future We Can't See?
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CodeAcademy.com |
I saw tech as a distraction and new gadgets as investments that only lost value once purchased. Only with the pandemic did I start to appreciate the resources at our disposal. Not only did the internet make distance learning possible, but it helped people connect in a way unimaginable even ten years ago. Profesors who had studied code and kept up with technology had classes that were more streamlined and easy to follow. The profs who never posted grades online or used blackboard before the pandemic had, frankly, some of the worst classes because they had refused to learn any technology until they were forced to learn in 2020.
I've since realized, I don't want to be the fifty-year old who doesn't know how to work a (proverbial) projector. I don't want to label myself as "non-techy" and rely on other people to figure things out for me. As an educator, I should set the example as someone who continues to learn new skills throughout life. With that in mind, I recently started to learn some basic coding. I'm not sure how relevent this skill will be as technology becomes more user friendly, but I do know that the people in my life who have studied code are more confident in their abilities to figure out different programs and platforms on a computer.
As we learned in class, creators are going to rule the world. The more we can shift our own understanding of tech from something to consume to something to utilize, the more we can prepare for the future we can't see.
Tuesday, July 27, 2021
THIS is My Resume
For a good part of the course, we discussed how to responsibly approach our own social media as educators. I've known for most of my life that the way I present myself on social media can hurt my chances of getting a job or being accepted into college, but something about "this is your resume" spoke to me.
For mental health reasons, I've avoided following social media as much as possible. While consuming social media can lead to feelings of inadequacy, treating it as a "one-way street" would allow me to participate in digital networking without losing valuable time to the endless scroll of Instagram.
I have a unique last name, and can confidently say that I am the ONLY Cassandra Jabbora in the world. Google my name and you will learn that I have a senior recital on YouTube, was an honors student, Rotary scholar, and (disturbingly) any address I've held in the past ten years. All of that, while good, was posted by people who weren't me. It's time that I take control over my narrative.
I created my first Instagram post, sharing a picture of myself and colleagues in a pit orchestra for a gig in the Valley. Over time, I'd like to share classroom ideas and even TikToks related to music education. I know, because I've googled most of my teachers, that students will look me up. I don't want there to be nothing; I want to let them know who I am.
To wrap up this blog post, here's a TikTok by miss_stiles. I admire her humor and insight in the teaching profession, and clips like this inspire me to participate in my students' digital culture.
Wikipedia - Scapegoat of Misinformation
When Wikipedia was touted as a reliable source in this course, I immediately drew on years of bias and reservation toward the site. Years of teachers telling us not to use Wikipedia because "anyone can write anything" made me untrusting of using the site for anything besides bibliography mining.
Something funny about this mistrust though ... that same criticism isn't used for biased news sources or websites that end in ".org." I remember one project in particular where fourth-grade Cassandra researched a nineteenth-century American inventor and told my entire class that he batted another inventor for title of "Superior Wheat Harvester" at high noon. My teacher kindly gave me an A-minus and reminded the class to stay off Wikipedia, even though I had found that information on a blog-style website recommended on the school computers.
As I've grown, I notice the same people who told me to stay off Wikipedia sharing Facebook "news" based on the headline. People young and old know not to use Wikipedia, but have no issue trusting almost any other website. In social media and television, there is a growing movement to share "both sides," even if one "side" of the argument is completely false (Dr. Oz, I'm looking at you.) In the name of hearing everyone out, we've allowed fake news to run rampant. It's the Illusory Truth Effect. If we hear something false enough times, we subconsciously believe that it's the truth.
As noted by Feldman's Intelligencer article, Wikipedia has no problem deleting false information. Moderators from all viewpoints decide what they can generally agree to be true, and there is no incentive for Wikipedia to benefit from user data or advertisements because of its publicly-funded model.
Teaching students to navigate Wikipedia goes further than scrolling to the "Resource" section. We can ask that students only use articles GA or above (GA, A, FL, FA). While finding primary sources is important, well-reviewed secondary sources are huge in academia. I looked for information on Joseph Bologne and was disappointed I didn't read through all the information before writing a fifteen-page research paper a few years ago. Why reinvent the wheel piecing together his life when I can look for someone else's research.
Wikipedia, like all sources on the internet, shouldn't be taken at face value. Despite years of being told not to touch the site, I'm a convert and feel inspired to help edit a couple articles of my own.
Friday, July 23, 2021
Google Classroom Tips
1. CHANGE THEME AND SHARE PASSCODE
While creating a new class, you can add details such as name, description, and add a header image (theme template) for personalization. You can select from the bunch of default themes or upload the photo from the PC. You will be mostly fine with the default ones as they are divided neatly into categories such as Maths & Science, Arts, Sports, History, and more.

Tap on the select theme in the header image, choose a theme and apply it to the classroom. Copy the class code and invite students to join the class.
2. CHANGE FOLDER COLOR ON GOOGLE DRIVE
This is a fairly basic option, but very important when you are dealing with dozens of classes and subjects at a time. As you may know, by default, all the created classes get saved in the Google Drive folder. You can change the folder color of the class for easy discovery and personalization.

Go to a class > Classwork > Class Drive Folder, and it will open the relevant folder on Google Drive. You can rename it and add numbers in the title. Then, right-click on the folder to select Change Color from the context menu to assign a new folder color, which by default is set as boring grey.
This is a must-have for all the teachers. Google Classroom has added the ability to schedule assignments in advance. You can create assignments, add relevant details, comments, grades, and either publish it or schedule it for a set time. You will be able to see the scheduled assignment with name and time in a grayed-out section in the Classwork menu.

4. USE GOOGLE CALENDAR INTEGRATION
Do you know that the Google Classroom creates a separate calendar for every class in Google Calendar? You can go to a class > Classwork and select Google Calendar. There you will see the separate calendars for the classes you have created. If you don’t want it to interfere with your personal calendar, then uncheck the box with your name next to it. Users can also change the color of the calendar.

5. CREATE REFERENCE MATERIAL
While handing out assignments, you might want to provide resource material for the project. Teachers can go to Create > Material, add title, description, provide resource files from Google Docs, Form, YouTube, or Web. Select category and tap on the publish button at the top.
As you may already know, one can set the total grade marks for assignments. After the submission from students, you can give them grades. But even better, teachers can use the private comment function to give out compliments to students personally.

7. SORT STUDENTS BY SURNAME AND FIRST NAME
When you are dealing with hundreds of students in the class, it can be head-scratching to keep track of grades. While giving out grades, teachers can use the filter menu to sort out students by surname or the first name. It makes the whole process smooth for the teachers.

8. SEND AN EMAIL TO ALL THE STUDENTS
Google Classroom allows teachers to send out an email to all the students on the go. You can always send an email to students individually, but isn't that tedious? Of course, you can send an email to all of them right from the Classrooms interface. For that, you can go to Marks, select assignment, select all students from the following menu, and select Email selected students.

9. INVITE TEACHERS
During classes, you might want to invite other teaches to the classroom. Thankfully, Google Classroom allows you to invite others to handle the class. In a class, go to People and tap on the Share button to invite other teachers to the classroom. I have seen teachers sharing a classroom with their assistants to review the submissions.

10. POST A QUESTION AND ALLOW STUDENTS TO COMMUNICATE INTERNALLY
Teachers can use this function to start a debate among the students. Go to a Class > Classwork > Create > Question. You can add a question, choose from the short answer or multiple choices, add instructions, pin a file, and most importantly enable the Students can reply to each other option from the sidebar to post the questions and let the students discuss the topic internally. That's as good as a group discussion.

11. USE SHARE TO CLASSROOM EXTENSION
Google provides a handy Google Classroom extension that allows you to share interesting articles and news to students using the Classroom extension. From a webpage, just tap on the Google Classroom extension, choose a classroom, and share the content.
