A piece of me

Reflecting on EDU 776                                                                      Image: Meme Generator In the Beginning If I am being completely honest, I was questioning myself as to why this class is a part of my degree program. I have to pay to learn how to blog? What is this sorcery? I was not very open minded in the beginning as to why this class would be important. I became overwhelmed quickly (which is no surprise if you know me) and being that I did not even know how to link something in my blog posts but seeing that it was a requirement, shows my lack of knowledge for technology.  Obviously, I wanted to be able to pass this class and actually get something out of it in the process. I think I let my closed mind p...

SOCIAL MEDIA IN GENERATION Z   Image from Interesting Engineering     Looking back at my past research blog that was also more statistics based on Gen Z and social media, the CNN and CNBC articles I have read have a different sort of perspective.  Social media is very present in the students that I service this year at my school. These students are in the 7th grade and fall under the "Gen Z" category. From what I can tell, most have access to a cell phone and apps like "TikTok" and "Instagram". children mostly use social media for funs and games but if you dive deeper like in the CNN article linked above, a lot of social media is taking more of a toll of students and their infatuation with likes and being "liked". Social media can make a preteen or early teenager who is still coming into maturity more self conscious if they see their friends doing things via posts without them. Drama is something I have experience with when I was younger in soc...

My Digital Tattoo Image source: https://jaysschoolportfolio.weebly.com/digital-tattoo.html When I saw what this week's assignment was about, the word "tattoo" resonated with me as I have a bunch of tattoos and most of them are all cover ups of previous tattoos that I foolishly got when I was younger. I even have a tattoo that is a cover up of a cover up. When I think about how permanent a tattoo is, it has me compare it to how permanent our online presence can be. I, personally, have been in the middle of drama on social media and where I would post things that I look back on now, thanks to things like Facebook memories, and I absolutely CRINGE. I try my best to relay this to my students, especially with me working in middle school this year. Most teenagers do not think about how what they post can stick with them forever, even if erased or deleted, thanks to screenshots. When we think about who is responsible for making sure students nowadays are well informed about how ...

 UDL: Universal Design for Learning Why is assistive technology so important to our students? This  photo above is one of my favorite pictures depicting how UDL works Long gone are the days of plain pencil and paper assignments, long lectures and all independent reading.  With the advancement of technology comes the advancement of education as well. Now there are so many ways to get through to students who may have difficulties with learning. The concept UDL is an approach to learning and teaching that gives all students the equal opportunity to learn and succeed. Assistive technology really plays a vital role in how UDL works for students. Assistive technology comes in various forms and levels of assistance. The complete definition is any item, product or piece of equipment that is customized or modified to help improve functions of individuals with disabilities. One thing I have seen is that UDL and assistive technology can also work with different kinds of learners, no...

Finding My Footing                                                                                                                                                        Image  When I tell you that I was so scared to do this assignment-it is an understatement. Now, I have been on  social media for 15 years (Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook) but probably touched Twitter a total of 10  times (and it was really only to enter a contest). I knew in the back of my head that it couldn't be so bad  but I automatically thought the worst-what if I do not find a chat? What is a chat? How do these hashtag...