technology – 21st Century Educator

Digital Citizenship

Posted on January 8, 2018 by Mrs. Ruiz

digital citizenship EduBlogsClub Prompt #28:

Prompt: Write a post about digital citizenship

How do you teach students about being good digital citizens and appropriate behavior on the web?

Have you had any specific experiences related to students, behavior, and the web?

How do you think that digital citizenship is related to in person citizenship?

What would you add to the list of digital citizenship elements and why?

How have positive and/or negative experiences online influenced your digital citizenship values?

Digital citizenship has always been important to me as an educator. I recall very clearly the last year I was in the classroom (2015), that I promised myself I would make digital citizenship a priority despite the lack of significant technology in my classroom. My students deserved it. They needed online skills. What I mean by lack of significant technology is that my classroom of 30ish 4th graders had 4 desktop computers and we had computer lab time for only a fraction of the school year when state testing or district testing was not occurring.

Despite the lack of a 1:1 or a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) initiative, I was able to teach digital citizenship. A safe way to do this was the use of Edmodo. It was safe for me as an educator because it was a district approved site and designed for student use. I took computer lab time to teach my students the ins and outs of Edmodo and they were very excited to use it. Because of our limited tech situation during the school day I fully expected most of the true interactions to happen at home where students were free to use their own devices. And use their own devices they did! It amazed me how quickly some of my students became cyber-bullies. It was shocking really and a very teachable moment. I would monitor Edmodo anytime I had the chance to, which meant several times a day during the school day as well as during my own time. I would then deal with any troubling issues like cyber-bullying as well as praise students for their creative ways of using the online setting in a positive way and related to their studies. I would always take a bit of class time to highlight things on Edmodo I had observed, the good and the bad. Mind you, I was careful to avoid publicly shaming students who had succumbed to cyber-bullying, but I did not avoid talking openly about it. We had very healthy conversations in class about what was good online behavior and what was not. I think it helped students to better understand what was bullying behavior and what was productive online behavior. It also helped students connect online interactions to their educations and not strictly social places to goof off.

I have been an ISTE member for a long time and have even managed to attend a couple of ISTE conferences. I highly recommend membership for all 21st Century Educators. They have amazing standards for Administrators, Educators, and Students that truly and clearly outline what sorts of goals we should have in all of those roles in today’s educational landscape. It has been the ISTE standards for students that has guided my instruction and motivated me to be creative and not let my limited resources prevent the instruction of digital citizenship.

I have been fortunate to have had many incredibly positive experiences online. The various platforms that exist to broaden our horizons and truly make us all global citizens is astounding. I want my students to be able to partake in that digital and global community and not only benefit from it, but contribute to it. That is why I teach digital citizenship with every opportunity I get.

Since I no longer have my own classroom, I have one active and ongoing student, my son: a 7th grader at Connections Academy, a public online charter school. Digital citizenship is a daily occurrence for him as his entire school day is spent online. He attends live lessons daily, which look more like interactive webinars for those familiar with such things. He interacts with his friends online as well, largely via Skype and whichever online game they happen to be playing.

Choosing online school was a family decision and took some rearranging of our lives. First and foremost I did not feel he was benefiting from what I call a “traditional” schooling within my own school district. Others in the online schooling community call it “brick and mortar” schooling. Either way, my son was falling through the cracks and also had to deal with escalating bullying. To make matters worse, he was officially diagnosed with depression and anxiety. As an online learner myself (I completed my second Masters degree online and am currently working on my doctorate online), and someone passionate about online learning, I knew this was a viable option for my son’s education. I believe online learning has been successful for my son and my family thus far (we started this school year). It did require my mother moving back in with us (which she was going to do anyway) so that my son could have some supervision during the day while my husband and I are at work. However, I have never had his schooling be so transparent. I know exactly what he is working on and how to swiftly and easily reach his teachers. His current grades are only a click away and always up to date. My son is using technology all day long which is helping his digital citizenship skills tremendously and helping him work on the other standards that ISTE outlines for students.

I don’t believe the teachable moments I have with my son about digital citizenship are any different than I had with my students in the classroom. The only difference is perhaps I am a bit more direct with my son as the filter that teachers need to use with children that are not their own is not necessary when it comes to talking to my own child.

How do you teach digital citizenship to your students? How do you teach it to your children? Is it the same? Different?

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General

Claiming My Blog

Posted on September 30, 2016 by Mrs. Ruiz

As I work toward using my class website in new ways related to my work as an educator and parent of a 6th grader, I am using a tool I have used in the past with my Second Life blog, Bloglovin. It’s a great tool to follow blogs with as well as to easily read all the blogs I follow. I am currently building it up with my favorite blogs and “claiming” my blog. The “claiming” process required I make this post to show that I am the owner of this blog. If you are an avid blog reader or want to be one, Bloglovin’s is a great tool.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Minecraft

Minecraft at DGE

Posted on September 4, 2015September 11, 2015 by Mrs. Ruiz

Dear Families,

I am thrilled to announce the beginning of the 21^st Century Club at Dorothy Grant Elementary! In this very special club we will focus on teaching students the 21^st Century Skills they need as children of the information age. Specifically we will focus on the following International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards for students:

Creativity and Innovation
Communication and Collaboration
Research and Information Fluency
Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
Digital Citizenship
Technology Operations and Concepts

The first phase of our 21^st Century Club will focus on Minecraft and game based learning. This opportunity is open to all 3^rd through 5^th graders as a distance learning experience. That means students will be connecting to the club from home. The following are required to participate:

Reliable home computer with ~~MinecraftEDU~~ Minecraft installed (MinecraftEDU will not be used after all, regular Minecraft will.)
1. ~~This is different than the commercial Minecraft client. The MinecraftEDU client will be sent to students in the club once all requirements have been met.~~
Reliable home internet
A Minecraft account ($26.95) ~~or a MinecraftEDU account ($18)~~
1. ~~With commercial Minecraft, the account is yours to keep. With MinecraftEDU, you are borrowing the account.~~
Skype (for audio communication)
Edmodo (online classroom)
1. Students do not need to sign up for another Edmodo account if they already have one.
2. A group join code will be sent once all requirements have been met.
Permission slip with parent and teacher signatures

The Minecraft Club will take place on Thursdays from 4pm to 5pm. Our first meeting is Thursday, September 10th.

If you are interested in this opportunity for your child, please email me your child’s name and their teacher’s name. A permission slip will then be sent to them for completion along with further instructions.

Thank you!
Mrs. Ruiz
4^th Grade Teacher & Technology Coach
ruizmy@fusd.net
www.mrsruiz.net

Graduate Studies

Technology Infused Classroom

Posted on October 1, 2014October 1, 2014 by Mrs. Ruiz

When thinking about what a technology infused classroom looks like, I found I agreed with what the Innovative Designs for Education Corporation published as it’s 10 core principles of successful “learner-active, technology-infused” (LATI) classrooms:

Learning from a Felt Need
High Academic Standards
Higher-Order, Open-Ended Problem-Solving
Student Responsibility for Learning
Connected Learning
Collaboration
Individual Learning Paths
High Social Capital
Technology Infusion
Global Citizenship

Learning from a Felt Need indicates that students learn best when given an authentic situation to respond to rather than simply having material presented to them. The latter is largely how students receive a majority of the information in school. Learning from a felt need would have students learning about area and perimeter by being presented with a real life problem that required them to know area and perimeter for in order to create a solution.

High Academic Standards does not indicate the new Common Core standards, it indicates that students are expected to achieve at high levels. In order to do so they must utilize every resource around them. The teacher isn’t their only resource. There are their peers, experts in the field of study, the Internet, as well as many other resources that reach beyond the classroom.

Higher-Order, Open-Ended Problem-Solving requires that students are able to respond quickly to problems that are presented to them and are able to “think outside the box.” Situations change rapidly in today’s world and equipping our students with the skills to be successful in the 21st Century is a must.

Student Responsibility for Learning has been a favored topic of mine for many years. It has always been my firm belief that in order for a student to achieve, they have to take control of their learning. They cannot sit back and expect their learning handled for them, they must be an active participant. They must have a say in what they are learning and how they are learning it, they must set their own goals and set out to achieve them. Educators can certainly assist students with all of this, but they cannot do it for them.

Connected Learning states that the learning students do is connected to their lives outside of the classroom. If students can see the connection between the subjects they learn in school and what their daily lives expose them to, what they have learned will be cemented.

Collaboration is a word I have heard with much more frequency over the last several years in education. It seemed to me that it was aimed primarily at teachers, in that we should be collaborating with our colleagues in order to better assist our students on their academic paths. Lately however, the word collaboration has been aimed at the students and appropriately so. In today’s world we rarely do anything in isolation. We are always working with others to achieve a goal. Our students should be prepared for this reality and can be via collaboration on authentic educational tasks.

Individual Learning Paths is differentiation. The fact that educators need to differentiate in order to best serve their students is not a new concept, nor one I find any fault with. Students will learn best when instruction and authentic activities are geared toward their learning levels.

High Social Capital refers to the relationships students have with not only their teacher but other adults who are part of their academic journey. Students will perform best when they feel that the adults in their lives care about them, what they have achieved, what they need help in, and generally provide them support on not only an academic level but a personal and emotional level as well.

Technology Infusion requires that technology is in the hands of the students. Education has come a long way in that many teachers are comfortable teaching with technology as a way to enhance the content, but it is my opinion that there is not enough technology in many (not all) public schools so that it is in the hands of the students to create with. It is only through the creative process that information is truly absorbed. Technology is a part of all of our students lives in some way, they need to be provided the opportunity to create with it in meaningful ways and see that there is more to technology than video games. As an aside to that statement, I am not demeaning gaming as a valid strategy to achievement, I am saying that presently much of the gaming students do is without much academic value.

Global Citizenship aids students in defining a strong sense of self when they realize there is a much larger world beyond the doors of their classrooms. Students need to feel connected to the world at large, beyond Fontana, beyond California, and beyond the United States.

So how do I plan on having a technology infused classroom? I plan on using the limited technology I have available to me and making the most of it. I plan on continuing to be an educational technology advocate and do my part within my school and my district to continue to emphasize the need for more technology so that we are better able to prepare our students for the 21st Century. My question to decision makers is, how can we prepare students for the 21st Century when we don’t have regular access to the technology we need?

Websites of Interest:
A Prezi on LATI
LATI Principles

(GCU TEC 538 Reflective Blog Post #3)

DGE Online Tech Club

Online Tech Club

Posted on April 4, 2014 by Mrs. Ruiz

A few things have delayed my starting of DGE’s Online Tech Club but I have many ideas for projects! I have some students signed up already as young as TK and up through 3rd. I would really enjoy having all grade levels represented, so please encourage any 4th and 5th grade students you know to sign up! Here is the link to the Google Form I need parents to complete to get their child involved: DGE Online Tech Club. I will be sending an email this weekend to all those signed up and will begin our first project next week!

~ Mrs. Ruiz

EdTech Experiment, Graduate Studies, My Opinion

21st Century Learners

Posted on March 1, 2014 by Mrs. Ruiz

I am presently attending online classes at Grand Canyon University to earn my Master’s in Educational Technology and I am very excited about the way it is already getting me thinking. It was just what I had hoped for in bringing back some of my passion for teaching had been killed due to the drastic cuts in funding for education. The following is one of the discussion questions I had to reply to and my response. If you are interested in the link I am referring to, it can be found on the right side of this page under “Graduate Studies.”

“Based on the Standards for 21st-Century Learners, how prepared are students for using technology in their daily lives after leaving your classroom? What improvements might you make in your curriculum? Provide specific examples.”

First off I was quite impressed with the depth and detail contained in this brochure by the American Association of School Librarians. I don’t think I have viewed libraries in the way outlined in the brochure and that is an error on my part. I do believe that my impression of the libraries I have access to is that they are (like my school) limited in what they can serve the community due to funding. There is ONE library in the city in which I teach that is anything at all like what the brochure describes, but that is because it is a relatively recent addition to the city having opened in April 2008.

As to the discussion question, I feel like a broken record at times as I consider my response to this, but being that is a new class I will reiterate. My students were much more prepared for using technology in their daily lives after leaving my classroom about 4 or 5 years ago when my school had the funds to expose them to those technologies. Technology needs replacing and updating, and with all of the reductions in education, my school did not and continues to not have the funds to buy new technology for the students to interact with. As technology slowly shriveled I took it upon myself to do what I could to continue to expose my students to current technology. I am a lover of technology and while I am not one of those that will run out and buy every latest gadget, I do invest in those that I feel will serve me in some way in both a personal and professional way. This was the case when the iPad first came out. My family invested right off and I looked for ways to bring this to my classroom. I bring my iPad to school every day and have not only taught with it, but have had students create with it. Granted, 32 third graders and ONE iPad is a bit of a challenge, but at least I was exposing them in some small way to what possibilities there are. I share applications with my students and they are always surprised that they too can have the application I am using. I often have parents asking me about applications and referencing their child telling them about me using it in class. I love when that happens!

Just the other day I asked my students how many knew how to use a touchscreen…whether it be a tablet or otherwise and every hand went up…32 hands! That wasn’t the case a few years ago. I recall I had students who had no idea how to interact with a tablet and I was amazed at how quickly things change.

After years of being disappointed and frustrated at the technology situation at my school, I have noticed more and more families have access to the technology I would like to use in my classroom. While my district has not embraced the BYOD (bring your own device) notion, I am working on doing it my way in creating an online tech club. Essentially I will use my class website, Discovery Education and Edmodo to create assignments that enhance the curriculum that students can do at home with the technology they have access too, and with the aid of their parents. I of course would be accessible for help as well.

As to a specific example, March is Women’s History Month. I would expose my students to text and video to build and enhance their knowledge on the subject. I would then build an assignment within Discovery Education where students use the Board Builder feature (much like Glogster) to meet the following common core standards:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Students would share their completed “boards” with one another as well as present them to the class as well as other audiences.

Discovery Education: http://www.discoveryeducation.com/

Edmodo: https://www.edmodo.com/

Womens History Month: http://womenshistorymonth.gov/

Glogster: http://www.glogster.com/

I will be developing this idea along with the structure of Dorothy Grant’s Online Tech Club, so stay tuned!

~ Mrs. Ruiz