Final reflection on my digital footprint

As a final assignment we were asked to end this course like we started it.  We were to see how big of a digital footprint we actually had.  If you read my first blog for this course you can see that I could only find the real me as being on facebook, Linkin, and twitter.  As I enter my name and city and  state today I still find myself on facebook, linkin, twitter as well as You tube, diigo, and even about my father's obituary.  I also have about 10 more public records sites that have my basic information and who may relatives are.  I can see my digital footprint is getting bigger the more I explore and try new Web 2.0 tools that require me to join and sign up.  As I stated from the beginning I am constantly reminded that we all have to be careful about what information we hand over to others through various apps and programs.

How I have grown as a teacher and student using Web 2.0 tools

This class has been great!!!  I have learned so much not only as a graduate student but also as a teacher.  I love that we are able to take what we learned and use it this year in the classroom.  My students are a lot more engaged and motivated.

I must admit that some of the things we explored were totally foreign to me.  I did not know about social media bookmarks or aggregated pages. I have used You Tube for information and to entertain my 3 year old grandson but I did not know how to make a playlist.

I have also learned and enjoyed working with not only Dr. B again but also all my classmates.  I have solved some of my own tech problems just by reading some of your answers to others questions.

Week 5 - Exploring Social Bookmarking

This week our assignment was to explore the world of social bookmarking in the diigo site.  I had never heard of this before probably because I am not a secondary teacher. My first reaction was this was not something I could use in my class, but as I did my research I realized it could give my students access to their favorite articles about different areas we are studying at school using different Ipads or at home on their phone.

I am constantly throwing this and that into my favorites at school and here at home.  If I use my school computer and not my personal computer those things on my favorites will only be accessible on that individual computer.  The same goes for my personal computer at home.  When I am not at one of the two computer my information is totally unavailable until now!!  I finally get it!!!

This is my own personal library in the cloud that I will be able to access any where there is internet from any device or computer.  Besides being available it has tools that will help me remember where I left off by using a sticky note or highlighting the portion that is important.  The articles I have put in the diigo "cloud" can also be emailed and shared at the click of a button so I do not have to waste time going back into an email site, download the information, then create the email all before I can send out the information.

I sign up a new user account at diigo and then upgraded to an educator user.  I also loved our ETEC 527 diigo group that Dr. B invited us all to.  I really like the tags and am amazed at the countless articles about technology and education for example.  This is great to have so much information at my finger tips without having to spend hours researching online. 

As I continue to use diigo I know this will really be a lifesaver for me personally as a teacher and college student.  Tell me what you think about this Web 2.0 tool.

Week 4 - Aggregated sites

This week I helped plan my oldest sons wedding and I have ran myself crazy.  It was a beautiful wedding, but this means I am behind.  I was able to get my protopage up and going after hitting a few snags.
To be honest I did not know what an Aggregiated was or how to use it in class or independently,
 I do  like how it is organized and how easy it is to find all the information on each tab. I will continue to play with it and decide what to add to it so I can try using it in the classroom.

Week 3 Youtube Adventure 1

This week our assignment was to explore the amazing world of Youtube.  This is one Web 2.0 tool I am very familiar with.  I use it all the time in class, learn how to fix anything, and finally endure countless hours of hot wheel cars youtube videos with my three year old grandson who is obsessed with anything that has wheels.

As I search youtube about Twitter and Twitter tools I found a wealth of videos explaining every possible way to use Twitter.  I found different ways to use it in the educational setting as well as personally.  Twitter is a way to get information out to others in short 140 character responses.  You are to use a hash tag and then a few words that tell what you response was about.  When people add to the same subject their posts will be added in the same category as your previous post.  This allows people to have a bigger group of ideas and information on the same topic.  Twitter can be used as a teaching tool and a way to quickly communicate to parents.  Student can also check for missed work because the tweets are kept in a timeline order.The search provided me with a huge number of  articles and videos of different tweeting tools that a person can use.  One article told about 93 different tools to use with twitter.

When I searched videos on teaching and learning technologies, I watched a video telling teachers the 8 tips to handling new technology in classrooms.
1. Make small changes at a time.
2. Look to unexpected sources as they can come from anywhere. Keep your eyes and mind open.
3.  Have a willingness to accept failure. 
4.  No technology will be adopted unless it solves a problem.
5. Remember to look at problems in a different way.
6.  Consider risks openly.
7. Create innovation labs or event/places to increase innovation-.
8. Create a culture of innovation.

I also saw a great video on blending learning with technology.  It stated there were many ways to learn.  First the basic face to face instruction using simple technology.  This aids with collaboration as well as independent learning.   When technology is used student learning increased in both Math and ELA. Using Technology responsibly teaches skills to succeed, collaboration, creativity , and Divergent thinking.

I have used Youtube to find short colorful videos to help in my ELA and Social Studies.  I have used videos about different parts of speech, Texas history,and writing skills.  /Youtube has  become my friend this school year as this is the first year I have taught 4th grade.

Finally, I researched different ways to make a playlist.  When I went to youtube and added  the word playlist I was taken to different sites and video to show how to create a playlist of your choice.  Youtube/playlist was a site that spotlighted a channel for daily go- to news, trends, music and culture.
Others provided videos of how to save your music playlist to your computer, or android phone. I have to admit I am probably the last person on earth that does not have a music playlist and now I feel I can create one on my phone.

This course has been amazing!!  I am learning things that I can implement in my classroom right now and my students are loving the new technology available to them.

Week 2 The world of Twitter

This week has been an eye opener for me.  As I stated in my discussion section, I am very new to twitter.  My district was having a twitter challenge for teachers to tweet about different ways to engage students while learning.  Our campus goal was to have 100% participation from every teacher and administrator to win the challenge.  The councilor asked me if I had a twitter account and she set one up for me.  She even did my first tweet for me.  The next week she came to help me but I told her I had to actually do it to learn it.  I did so with no problems for the following 3 weeks.

This week I have actually learned a ton of information about tweeting.  I learned that educators can use twitter to grow their PLN, create positive PR about their class and learning experiences and also to teach positive digital citizenship in our digital world.

To grow my own professional learning network as a teacher I have learned how to connect with educators through @teaching with soul and @ Edutupia .  Educators share lessons and great activities with each other as well as feedback on how it worked in different classrooms.  Because I am a 4th grade teacher I checked out # 4thchat to get specific ideas that are for the 4th grade classroom.

Creating positive relations about my class and students is very appealing to me.  We all know there is a lot of negative things out on the web about education, students, and classrooms but if you were to get in front of this negative wave and use your class twitter account to let students tweet about the positive learning that is happening on a daily bases, other tweeters and parents will be able to see what the students are learning and doing throughout their day.  Just FYI, I am going to sit down with my principal after we have our STAAR testing and get approval for a classroom twitter account for my 4th grade class.

This leads into teaching my students responsible digital citizenship while handing social media.
Students have to understand that once they put anything out on the web it is there for all to see, so it needs to be positive and polite.  It can be taken down but that doesn't mean countless people may have already copied and shared it .  At this point they will have no control over it.  Words have a powerful impact and they can lift up your soul or break your heart.  Any social media user needs to understand and except the responsibility that goes with this endeavor.  As a teacher it will be my responsibility  to make sure all my students understand how to use social media in a positive way .

Exploring Educational Technology in ETEC 527

Week 1:
Exploring my digital footprint on the web is always interesting.  When I simply used the :"Denise Mays" as suggested I came up with a lot more information than I realized, once I weeded through hundreds of Denise Mays to find me.

I found my basic information of name, age, address, children's names, and so on.  This was out there because of social media sites like Facebook,  tweeter, and Llinkedin.  I then went and added to the search by including the word teacher in with my name and I only got that I was employed by Burnet CISD through Linkedin as well as my web page as a teacher at Shady Grove Elementary.  I then added Burnet, TX to my name and did not get anything new only a public records site that wanted me to pay for anything other than the basic information I already had. I added the school I am teaching at this year and found my link to spelling city and my teacher website through the school.

It is amazing how easy it is to get basic information in minutes on anyone.  We all have those just for friends Facebook pages and school pages and think we are still private but that simply is not true.  This has shown me that every time we use the web our footprint is left as a trail for others to follow.  This reintegrated how important it is to be mindful of what you put out on the web as it is truly public domain and anyone can get it anytime.