Unit 4: Learning Spaces and Design

Current Classroom Design

  

Currently, I have my students placed into groups of 4 to 5 students. This year, I have a pretty small class of 17 students, which is really nice when being compared to the amount of students I had last year (27). This obviously makes a world of a difference in the amount of space that I have in my classroom. Since the groups are smaller, the students are able to move around the room easily. The benefits of having a smaller class also allowed me to purchase a big blow up chair, two bean bag chairs, and two carpets on in the from of the room and one in the back with the comfy chairs. One thing I don't really have a tech station because of the students being one to one. However, I do allow the to do their work around the room. 

Redesign Option

My colleague's classroom with tables at different heights, milk crates as seats, bins to hold binders, pillows at another table, yoga balls, and stools. She also has an area where the students can lounge in bean bag and beach chairs.

21 Century Learning environments have to allow students to be able to get up and moving around the classroom so that they are able collaborate with one another. This is the main reason as to why I always put my students into groups. When they were in 3rd grade, one of the 3rd grade teachers changed her room from having desks and chairs to tables of different heights, pillows, yoga balls, and stools to sit on. She said the students really enjoyed having the ability to move around the room and it gave a sense of relaxation. I asked her if it really made a difference in their academic levels and she said yes. She stated that there was a study that she found on Edutopia (Article Link) that claimed that flexible seating helps increase academic ability up to 25%.  So, if I was given $1,000 I would use it to buy all of the materials that my colleague uses for her classroom. In addition, I've always been interested in placing a dining room table with chairs as one of my flexible seating options, so the money would also go towards that as well I would also buy up-to-date iPads to make a technology station as well. 

Blogs From Educators on Flexible Design

Here is an example of the blog that my colleague used to help her create a flexible design classroom. 

• Her name is Meghan and she is a 1st grade teacher in California who uses flexible seating with her students. She provides examples of what flexible seating may look like within a classroom.
• Blog: Meghan's blog on flexible seating
• Another teacher that I found to be very helpful is Jennifer Ward. She is a high school teacher that decided that she wanted to change to a flexible design classroom. She provides her experience switching from traditional to flexible, as well as what resources she used to make the switch happen. 
• Blog: Jennifer Ward's Blog on Flexible Seating

Resources: 

Visualizing 21st-Century Classroom Design. (n.d.). Retrieved March 29, 2018, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/visualizing-21st-century-classroom-design-mary-wade

Unit 3- Curation Tools

3-D printers have always been an interest of mine. My school had purchased one about two years ago, but I still have yet to try and use it with my students. Many of my colleagues and myself included, would have to say that we are a little intimidated by this machine, mainly for two reasons. The first reason is that this is a very expensive printer and two, we all are questioning "how can we use something like this with our students?" We all want to have our students become 21st Century diverse learners, but at times it's difficult to get them there due to the fact that we aren't even trained on how to use something like this. After looking at different articles about 3-D printing and how it can be used to help people, perhaps this could be something that I could incorporate in my social skills lessons. This could possibly allow my students to think about others and how we can use a machine like this to help others.

Here is my Flipboard Magazine
View my Flipboard Magazine.

What tools have you explored and what made you choose this one?
For the longest time, I've used different types of social media to follow things that I enjoy such as through Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram. I chose to use Flipboard Magazine because I honestly wanted to explore something different. I look at these courses in this program as gateways to doing things that I wouldn't normally resort to in my personal life and those social media forums are something that I use daily. A while ago, when I bought my cellphone, I saw that I could subscribe to different magazines through Flipboard Magazine, which was something that was already installed on my phone. Not thinking anything of it, I decided that I wanted to mute the notifications since I didn't use Flipboard Magazine.

As I was searching for 3-D Printing on Flipboard Magazine, it was really hard to find anything on 3-D printers and how they're being used in education. This was a little concerning considering that this was something my school and other schools have purchased for our students. However, there were a lot of interesting Flips that were related to helping people who need prosthetics, including children.

Did anyone else pick the topic of 3-D printing? Can anyone perhaps provide me guidance on which curation tool, other than Flipboard Magazine, to use that has more educational information on 3-D printing?

Unit 2: (Option C) Social Media and its Affect on Personal and Professional Lives

As a teacher, have you ever walked in on the first in-service day of the year and received the lecture of a lifetime on the dangers of using social media? Well, I know well enough that all educators have at least had that talk with their administrators at some point in their career. I even remember in college my Educational Professors talking to us about the dangers of social media and that we have to be extremely cautious due to our professions being publicized. Well, one teacher from Harlandale ISD was under investigation because she pinned, what seemed to be offensive e-cards on her Pinterest account. These e-cards were found by a parent due to them searching that teacher's name. If you haven't had the chance to read the article here is the link.

There can be different ways that educators can view the use of social media and how they use it in their personal or professional lives. One may argue that educators are so publicized that "yes" they should be held accountable for something like pinning a sarcastic e-cards because they knew that going into this particular profession. Educators are seen as public figures that children should be able to look up to as their teacher and role model. Therefore, teachers like the one from Harlandale ISD should be investigated professionally and personally because the e-cards can be interpreted negatively. 

On the flip-side, one may argue that educators, just like any other person, has a professional and a personal life. If by chance the teacher from Harlandale ISD "pinned" those e-cards on her personal account on her personal time, would it be fair to say that she should be punished professionally? In my opinion, I would have to say to an extent. As educators we do really need to watch what is being posted on social media. Social media is something that allows others to have easy access to people's lives, such as the parent doing a "quick search" on that teacher. Educators are held to a higher standard than any other profession out there. So, when something like this can be found on that "quick search", others like to make a mountain out of a mole hill. If parents really knew what teachers go through on a daily basis, perhaps they would give us a break. But, since majority of people don't know what an educator does on a daily basis, we do need to take precautionary steps to help prevent something like this from happening. I do however believe that this parent took it WAY too far by going to the local news and advertising it to the community. There really should be stipulations for parents as well on what they can post publicly about educators. 

After looking at an example of a conflict that is controversial, how is incorporating civil discourse beneficial to students within a classroom? Engaging in debates allows students to speak their mind on a particular topic and explain their reasoning for taking that side. It allows students to feel as though their opinion about that topic matters, and they feel as though they have a voice. Many times, I see my students taking one side of a debate just because their friends take that side. This can be concerning because we want all our students to be independent leaders and not so much a follower. Conducting a civil discourse also allows students to practice their listening skills. They need to be able to listen to what others have to say in order to either justify or change their opinion, which enhances their reasoning skills as well. 

Four Corners: 

Parents should be allowed to create a school social media page for their child's school, where they can interact with other parents from that same school. 

Strongly Agree: 

• Parents can gain information about school events, field trips, ways to help their child academically, etc. 
• Parents should be allowed to share their thoughts and opinions about the district and staff.  
• Parents can be informed of emergencies and be posted on how things are being handled. 

Agree: 

• Stay in-touch with their child's school
• A website like this can keep parents connected with one another. 
• Ask other parents about homework 

Disagree: 

• Parents can have a social media like this, but it needs to be approved by the school. 
• This social media page has to approve its followers.

Strongly Disagree: 

• Parents should not be allowed to have a private social media page that is linked to their child's school. 
• If a social media page was to be created, it needs to be monitored by the school's technology department on a daily basis. 
• Parents are not permitted to discuss staff members of the school in a negative sense on this social media page.  

Resources: 

Ko, S. (2015, May 23). Harlandale ISD teacher investigated for social media posts. Retrieved from https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2015/05/22/harlandale-posts-teacher-pinterest-columbia-heights-elementary/27825705/

Unit 1

• Where do you find the majority of your teaching resources?
• There are so different types of teaching resources out there, that sometimes it can get overwhelming. Books, programs, and suggestions from colleagues are all wonderful resources to use for teaching. However, I find the majority of my teaching resources through the internet. The internet provides so many different types of resources that teachers can use and it saves us so much time. 
• Who do you look to for support and research for new ideas?
• I'm apart of my district's technology committee, which has made it easy for me to learn about the different kinds of technological resources and how to implement them within the classroom. I teach elementary students, so some of the resources that they mention are too advanced for my students to use. I also go to my school's librarian for technological assistance. She too Mastered in Instructional Media and is now completing her second Master's degree in Instructional Technology.  
• Do you follow any particular blogs? If so, please share. 
• I actually do not currently follow any blogs. Social media like Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat has pretty much kept my interest in the sense where subscribing to a blog never really occurred to me. However, if there are any blogging platforms that would be useful in the classroom, I would be more than willing to check them out. 
• What are some of the hot topics you face in your situation, particularly those that are controversial but also new challenges? 
• I feel like there are so many of challenges within the classroom stem from students having social and emotional issues. I can honestly say that almost on the daily, and sometimes multiple times a day, teachers are dealing with students who are defiant, who refuse to do their classwork, who don't know how to communicate appropriately and are suffering from either depression or anxiety. When talking with veteran teachers, they said that there has always issues with students, however not to this extreme. We all believe that video games and lack of sleep have a lot to do with it. Rather than socializing with one another, they would rather play a game on their Xbox all day. Some of my students have mentioned to me that they're staying up and playing video games hours on end. 
• In addition to students having social and emotional issues, I believe that parents' view of teachers has changed as well. Instead of allowing us to work as a team to make their child successful, it feels like it's parents versus teachers. 
• Hot Topic: Do you think that video games have an affect on students' social and emotional skills? Do you think the public's outlook on educators has changed throughout the past 10 years?